WESTERN  WOMEN 
IN  EASTERN  LANDS 


ma 


ELEN  BARRETT  MONTGOMERY 


-^u^m^-y^ 


-,.  (^.M^ 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK    ■    BOSTON    ■    CHICAGO 
ATLANTA   •    SAN   FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN  &   CO.,  Limited 

LONDON   •    BOMBAY   •    CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE  MACMILLAN  CO    OF  CANADA,  Ltd. 

TORONTO 


Mbs.  Dorkmus 


WESTERX  WOMEN   IN 
EASTERN  LANDS 


AX    OUTLIXE    STUDY    OF 

FIFTY  YEARS  OF  WOMAN'S  WORK 
IN  FOREIGN  MISSIONS 


BY 
HELEN  BARRETT  MONTGOMERY 


The  women  that  publish  the 
tidings  are  a  great  host" 


THE   MACMILLAN   COMPANY 
1910 

All  rights  reserved 


6V 


COPTRICIIT,    1910, 

By  the   MACMILLAN   COMPANY. 


Set  up  and  electrotyped.     Published  April,  1910.     Reprinted 
October,  1910. 

PUBLISHED   FOK   THE   CENTRAL   COMMITTEE 
ON  THE   UNITED   STUDY  OF  MISSIONS. 


NortaooB  ^^resB 

J.  8.  Gushing  Co.  —  Berwick  &  Smith  Co. 

Norwood,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 


CONTENTS 


Foreword 


CHAPTEK 

I.  What  our  ^Iothers  have  told  Us 

n.  Ladies  Last 

ni.  Missionaries  at  Work 

IV.  The  AVomex  behind  the  Work 

Y.  The  New  Woman  of  the  Orient 

VL  Problems  and  Policies 

Index         


Statistical  Tables 


PASS 

xi 

1 

43 

83 
155 
203 
241 

283 


folder  at  the  end 


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

The  author  wishes  to  acknowledge  the  kind- 
ness of  the  Women's  Boards  of  Missions  and  of 
the  friends  who  have  lent  books  and  pamphlets; 
also  the  cooperation  and  counsel  of  the  Central 
Committee  in  the  preparation  of  the  book. 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 


Mrs.  Doremus    . 


Frontispiece 


FACING    PAGE 


A  Moslem  Madonna  .        .        > 

A  Bible  Woman  at  AVork  in  Ceylon 

Woman's  Work  for  Children     . 

Mrs,  William  Butler 

Unbinding  a  Chinese  Woman's  Feet 

A  Hindu  Widow        .... 

A  King's  Daughters  Society  in  Japan 

Girls'  School  at  Hyderabad,  India     . 

Calisthenics  Class  in  Marathi  School,  India     . 

Girls'  School  at  Foochow,  China,  going  to  Church 

Dispensary  at  Bareilly,  India    .... 

Bible  Woman  in  India,  with  Those  she  has  led  to 
Christ 

Dr.  Eleanor  Chesnut 

Lilavati  Singh,  Acting  President  of  Lucknow  Col 

lege 

Glory  Kindergarten,  Kobe,  Japan      . 
School  for  the  Blind  in  Bombay 
A  Mothers'  Club  in  Japan 


18 

21 

36 

52 

61 

68 

76 

85 

116 

125 

140 

149 

180 

187 
206 
213 
221 


LIST   OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


Pundita  Ramabai  and  Her  Daughter 

Mrs.  Satthianadhan,  Editor  and  Author 

The  New  Women  of  China 

New  Fashions  for  the  Congo    . 

The  Ladies'  Aid  Society  of  Erromcaiga 

A  Woman's  Missionary  Society  in  China 


FACING    PACE 

236 
244 
251 
260 
270 
277 


FOREWORD 

The  publication  of  this,  the  tenth  volume 
in  the  series  issued  by  the  Central  Committee 
on  the  United  Study  of  Missions,  leads  us  to 
review  briefly  this  first  decade  of  systematic, 
united  study  by  the  women  of  our  Foreign 
Missionary  Societies. 

We  trace  it  back  to  its  beginning  in  the 
lieart  oi  Miss  A.  B.  Child,  Secretary  of  the 
Women's  Board  of  Missions,  who,  as  Chairman 
of  the  World's  Committee,  arranged  for  the 
presentation  of  this  topic  at  one  of  the  sectional 
meetings  for  women  held  in  connection  with 
the  Ecumenical  Conference  in  New  York,  May, 
1900. 

The  plan  met  with  warm  approval,  and  a 
committee  consisting  of  five  members  was  ap- 
pointed, each  of  the  following  Boards  choosing 
one  :  Baptist,  Congregational,  Methodist,  Pres- 
byterian, and  Protestant  Episcopal.  Later  the 
Dutch  Reformed  and  Lutheran  Boards  each 
furnished  a  member. 

To  meet  the  immediate  demand,  a  leaflet 
study  was  issued  in  the  fall  of  1900,  and  steps 
were  taken  to  secure  an  author  and  a  publisher 
for  the  first  text-book,  which  aimed  to  present 
an   Outline   Study  of  Missions  from  the  time 


xii  FOREWORD 

of  the  Apostles  down  to  the  Nineteenth  Cen- 
tury. Miss  Louise  Manning  Hodgkins  con- 
sented to  write  the  book,  giving  it  the  Latin 
title  "  Via  Christi,"  and  the  Macmillan  Com- 
pany was  chosen  as  publisher.  The  demand 
was  far  greater  than  the  Committee  or  publisher 
had  hoped.  The  sales  of  this  book  alone  have 
amounted  to  more  than  50,000  copies.  Others 
followed,  one  for  each  year,  the  authors  adopting 
Latin  titles  in  conformity  with  the  first  volume: 
"Lux  Christi:  An  Outline  Study  of  India"  by 
Caroline  Atwater  Mason;  "Rex  Christus:  An 
Outline  Study  of  China"  by  Rev.  Arthur  H. 
Smith,  D.D. ;  "Dux  Christus:  An  Outline  Study 
of  Japan"  by  William  Elliott  Griffis,  D.D. ; 
"  Christus  Liberator :  An  Outline  Study  of 
Africa"  by  Ellen  C.  Parsons;  "Christus  Re- 
demptor :  An  Outline  Study  of  the  Islands  of 
the  Pacific"  by  Helen  Barrett  Montgomery; 
"Gloria  Christi:  An  Outline  Study  of  Missions 
and  Social  Progress"  by  Anna  R.  B.  Lindsay. 
This  completed  the  cycle  of  seven  originally 
planned  by  the  Committee,  but  the  great  de- 
mand for  the  Studies  led  to  the  publication  of 
three  more  volumes,  modeled  after  these  but 
with  English  titles.  "  The  Nearer  and  Farther 
East,"  in  which  Moslem  lands  were  presented, 
by  Rev.  Samuel  M.  Zwemer,  D.D.,  and  "  Korea, 
Burma,  and  Siam  "  by  Rev.  Arthur  J.  Brown, 
D.D.,  "The  Gospel  in  Latin  Lands"  by  Rev. 
and  Mrs.   Francis   E.   Clark,  and  our  present 


FOREWORD  xiii 

volume,  "  Western  Women  in  Eastern  Lands  " 
by  Helen  Barrett  Montgomery. 

While  these  studies  were  primarily  for  the 
use  of  women,  they  have  all  been  along  broad 
lines,  not  confined  to  woman's  work  nor  unduly 
magnifying  it.  This  last  book,  therefore,  meets 
a  real  need,  as  there  has  never  been  an  ade- 
quate presentation  of  this  department  of  For- 
eign Missions. 

As  this  year,  1910-11,  marks  the  fiftieth  anni- 
versary of  the  organization  of  the  first  woman's 
Board  of  Missions  in  America,  The  Woman's 
Union  Missionary  Society,  we  celebrate  two  an- 
niversaries, the  Jubilee  of  Women's  Foreign 
Missionary  Work  and  the  tenth  of  United 
Study.  Each  year  has  seen  marked  leading  in 
the  choice  of  timely  topics  and  the  selection 
of  authors  wonderfully  fitted  for  their  task. 

The  Committee  believes  it  has  been  divinely 
led  to  publish  this  book  at  a  time  when  women 
will  review  the  past  and  will  study  with  keen 
interest  the  developments  of  a  half  century  of 
women's  work  in  the  Orient. 

In  addition  to  the  usual  editions  in  paper 
and  cloth,  which  contain  twenty-four  half-tone 
plates,  the  publishers  offer  an  edition  de  luxe^ 
designed  for  the  hosts  of  women  who  must 
have  something  especially  attractive  to  enlist 
them  in  the  consideration  of  missions.  The 
Committee  also  announces  the  publication  of 
the  ten  volumes  of  the  series  as  an  anniversary 


xiv  FOREWORD 

edition,  which  furnishes  a  convenient,  complete 
missionary  library  by  the  best  authors,  indis- 
pensable to  all  students  of  missions.  An  out- 
growth of  this  ten  years  of  study  has  been  the 
Summer  Schools  of  missions,  and  one  of  the 
by-products  is  a  rich  and  ever-increasing  store 
of  supplementary  material,  maps,  charts,  pic- 
tures, libraries,  junior  studies,  and  an  attractive 
pamphlet  literature  prepared  by  the  Boards  and 
distributed  through  the  Central  Committee. 

This  tenth  year  will  bring  sales  up  to  600,000, 
and  marks  not  a  close  of  the  effort  but  a  begin- 
ning. With  no  militant  methods  and  no  thought 
of  increased  self-culture  and  opportunity,  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  women  are  seeking  the 
uplift  of  oppressed  womanhood  and  the  better- 
ment of  social  conditions  in  the  most  needy 
places  of  the  world,  seeking  it  in  the  way  and 
in  the  spirit  of  Jesus.  Not  until  all  women 
who  love  Him  and  are  called  by  His  name  unite 
in  the  task  can  His  Kingdom  come. 

CENTRAL   COMMITTEE   ON  THE   UNITED 
STUDY   OF  MISSIONS. 
Mrs.  henry   W.    PEABODY,  Chairman. 
Miss  E.    HARRIET   STANWOOD. 
Mrs.  DECATUR   M.    SAWYER. 
Mrs.  CHARLES   N.    THORPE. 
Miss  ELIZABETH   C.    NORTHUP. 
Mrs.  a.    V.    POHLMAN. 
Miss  OLIVIA   H.    LAWRENCE. 
Miss  GRACE   T.    COLBURN. 


CHAPTER   I 

Woman's   Missionary  Movement  sketched   on  the 
Background  of  the  Xineteenth  Century 

1.  Its  Relation  to 

Education 

Suffrage 

Abolition 

2.  Forerunners  in  Early  Part  of  Century 

3.  Pioneer  Societies  in  the  Decade  following 

THE  Civil  War 


CHAPTER   I 

WHAT   OUR   MOTHERS   HAVE   TOLD    US 

A  Story  of  Beginnings 

For  the  women  of  our  modern  churches  it  is  Purpose, 
hard  to  realize  that  there  ever  was  a  time  when 
there  were  none  of  the  active  and  ubiquitous 
Women's  Missionary  Societies  that  seem  so 
much  a  part  of  the  structure  of  church  life. 
Yet  the  jubilee  year  of  organized  work  for 
foreign  missions  on  the  part  of  women  is  now 
just  peering  over  our  horizon.  It  is  the  purpose 
of  this  book  to  set  forth  the  history  of  this 
movement  on  the  background  of  the  social  and 
religious  forces  which  produced  it ;  to  describe 
its  organization  and  aims,  its  work  and  its 
workers ;  to  picture  its  possibilities  and  its 
hopes  for  the  future. 

The  organization  of  the  Women's  Missionary  The 
Societies  is  but  one  of  a  remarkable  series  of  ^^man  s 

Century. 

movements  among  women  that  have  made  the 
nineteenth  century  known  as  the  Woman's 
Century.  In  it  forces  long  at  work  crystallized 
so  as  to  revolutionize  many  conceptions  regard- 
ing the  proper  sphere  and  activities  of  women. 
This  readjustment  of  thought  and  practice  was 
not  confined  to  one  country,  but  was  felt  in 
3 


4     WESTERN   WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

varying  degrees  throughout  all  nations.  B© 
fore  beginning  our  study  of  a  special  phase,  it 
will  be  well  to  get  a  swift  glimpse  of  the  move- 
ment as  a  whole.  It  is  difficult  for  the  modern 
woman  to  adjust  herself,  even  in  thought,  to  the 
woman's  world  as  it  existed  at  the  opening  of 
the  nineteenth  century  ;  "  old  things  are  passed 
away,  behold  all  things  are  become  new."  Yet 
if  we  are  to  realize  the  magnitude  of  the  world- 
tide,  '  too  deep  for  sound  or  foam,'  on  which  we 
are  swept  along,  we  must  see  clearly  the  coast- 
lines long  since  submerged,  which  stood  out 
clear  and  high  in  1800.  We  shall  most  quickly 
see  this  if  we  look  at  the  position  of  women  as 
revealed  in  literature,  law,  industry,  and  educa- 
tion one  hundred  years  ago. 
The  old-  If  we  may  trust "  Clarissa  Harlowe,"  "  Evelina," 

"  Pride  and  Prejudice,"  and  the  "  Vicar  of  Wake- 
field," women  at  the  opening  of  the  century  were 
feebler  in  frame  than  their  athletic  great-grand- 
daughters, given  to  fainting  and  hysteria,  and 
so  circumscribed  by  proprieties  that  they  hardly 
dared  move  for  fear  of  offending  one  or  more 
of  the  standards  of  correct  female  behavior. 
Young  they  were  too,  mere  babes  of  fifteen,  the 
heroines  of  long  romances,  and  aging  incredibly 
early,  it  would  seem.  We  have  no  patience  with 
these  heroines  who  promptly  faint  when  any 
emergency  faces  them,  and  long  to  shake  them 
into  some  sort  of  sense.  Our  ideas  of  the 
hardihood  of  our  fore-mothers,  too,  receive  a 


fashioned 
heroine. 


WHAT  OUR   MOTHERS  HAVE    TOLD    US     5 

shock  when  we  read  the  records  left  bj  their 
contemporaries.  Abbe  Robin,  for  example,  the 
chaplain  of  Rochambeau's  army  during  the 
Revolution,  wrote  in  1782  concerning  American 
women : 

"  At  twenty  years  they  have  no  longer  the  freshness 
of  youth ;  at  thirty-five  or  forty  they  are  wrinkled  and 
decrepit." 

Chevalier  Louis  Felix  de  Beaujour,  who  lived 
in  the  United  States  from  1804-1814  as  Consul 
General,  wrote  : 

"  At  the  age  of  twenty-five  their  form  changes,  and  at 
thirty  the  whole  of  their  charms  have  disappeared." 

If  we  turn  from  literature  to  law,  we  shall  Theiawand 
find  there  an  even  more  astounding  change  in  ^^^  ^^ 
the  status  with  which  woman  began  the  century 
and  that  with  which  she  closed  it.  In  all  the  Eng- 
lish-speaking world  the  only  woman  whom  the 
law  recognized  as  a  person  was  the  unmarried 
woman.  The  married  woman,  in  the  eyes  of  the 
law,  ceased  to  exist  the  moment  her  vows  were 
said.  She  could  neither  sue  nor  be  sued,  could 
hold  no  property,  could  not  testify  in  a  court  of 
law,  had  no  legal  right  to  the  money  she  might 
earn,  nor  to  the  control  of  her  own  children,  the 
legal  guardianship  being  vested  solely  in  the 
father.  The  remark  attributed  to  a  fond  lover, 
*'We  shall  be  one,  darling,  and  I  will  be  that 
one,"  accurately  and  succinctly  states  the  com- 
mon-law doctrine  of  woman's  rights.     It  was 


6     WESTERN   WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 


The  woman 
who  works. 


The  educa- 
tion of  girls. 


not  until  the  New  York  legislation  in  regard  to 
the  property  rights  of  married  women  in  1848 
that  any  state  began  the  change  of  the  old 
common-law  provisions  in  regard  to  woman's 
rights. 

In  the  field  of  industry  the  contrast  was 
equally  sharp.  The  short  and  simple  annals  of 
woman's  opportunities  to  make  a  living  were 
soon  told.  She  could  marry  —  failing  in 
that,  she  could  be  either  a  maiden-aunt  or  a 
dressmaker.  The  dame  school  provided  for  a 
few  widows.  Now  and  then  a  A^oraan  wrote 
books.  The  modern  idea  of  self-support  for 
women  was  undiscerned  even  by  the  most  dar- 
ing minds. 

Even  more  startling  is  the  change  which  the 
century  has  wrought  in  the  ideas  of  the  world 
in  regard  to  women's  education.  The  first 
American  schools  for  boys  were  established 
with  the  very  first  days  of  colonial  history ; 
but  it  was  not  until  the  nineteenth  century 
was  well  under  way  that  any  serious  attempt 
was  made  to  provide  generously  for  the  girls. 
In  fact,  in  Philadelphia,  it  was  not  until  1893 
that  the  girls'  high  schools  were  put  on  an 
equal  footing  with  those  for  boys.  Up  to 
that  time  no  Latin,  French,  nor  German  was 
taught  in  the  girls'  high  schools  of  that  great 
city. 

In  1792  the  records  of  Newburyport,  Mass., 
show  that  the  town-meeting  voted  :    "  During 


WHAT  OUR   MOTHERS  HAVE    TOLD    US     7 

the  summer  months,  when  the  boys  in  the  school 
have  diminished,  the  master  shall  receive  girls 
for  instruction  in  reading  and  grammar  after 
the  dismission  of  the  boys,  for  an  hour  and  a 
half." 

Northampton,  so  late  as  1788,  voted  "  not  to 
be  at  any  expense  for  schooling  girls";  and 
another  town  graciously  permitted  the  girls  to 
assemble  for  instruction  in  the  public  school 
from  sis  to  eight  in  the  morning,  during  the 
summer  months.  This  was  in  1804.  In  1826 
Boston  rather  peevishly  abolished  its  girls' 
high  school  (so  called)  because  so  many  girls 
were  clamoring  for  admission.  The  story  is 
told  that  when  the  question  of  taxing  the 
town  to  provide  schooling  for  girls  was  dis- 
cussed in  Hatfield,  one  indignant  citizen  ex- 
claimed, '•  Hatfield  school  shes?     Never  I  " 

But  with  the  new  century  came  the  new 
spirit  of  woman's  emancipation  that  would  not 
down.  Emma  Willard  formed  the  audacious 
plan  of  a  school  for  the  higher  schooling  of 
girls,  endowed  by  the  state,  as  were  similar 
schools  for  boys,  and  actually  addressed  the 
legislature  on  the  subject.  When  in  her  school 
a  young  lad}^  was  examined  in  geometry,  it 
called  forth  a  storm  of  public  ridicule  in  press 
and  pulpit.  Mary  Lyon  carried  the  idea  to 
even  more  democratic  lengths,  and  succeeded 
by  sheer  force  of  determination  and  superb 
initiative   in    founding    Mount  Holvoke  Semi- 


10     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

be  sued,  to  make  contracts,  to  testify  in  court, 
to  obtain  a  divorce  for  just  cause,  to  possess 
her  children,  to  claim  a  fair  share  of  the  accumu- 
lations during  marriage,  to  vote.  Here,  too, 
women  received  valuable  training.  They  learned 
to  think  clearly,  to  speak  without  confusion,  to 
stand  bravely  for  an  unpopular  cause,  to  organ- 
ize to  obtain  just  laws.  The  women  of  a  whole 
state  were  being  trained  in  those  twenty  years 
during  wliieh  Julia  Ward  Howe  led  the  delega- 
tion which  appeared  before  each  Massachusetts 
legislature  to  demand  legal  rights  in  the  children 
they  had  borne.  (The  law  then  vested  sole  legal 
ownership  of  the  child  in  the  father,  as  is  still 
the  case  in  some  states.) 
The  Civil  In  its  educative  force  on  the  women  of  the 

nation  the  Civil  War  overtops  all  other  agen- 
cies. During  the  awful  struggle  the  women 
both  North  and  South  received  a  baptism  of 
power.  They  were  driven  to  organize,  forced 
to  cooperate  by  their  passion  of  pity  and  patri- 
otism, and  in  the  management  of  the  great  com- 
mission for  raising  and  distributing  aid  to  the 
soldiers  they  discovered  powers  of  which  they 
themselves  and  the  nation  had  been  quite  un- 
conscious. It  is  no  accident  that  it  was  the 
decade  following  the  close  of  the  Civil  War  that 
saw  the  launching  of  scores  of  organizations, 
among  them  the  Missionary  Societies  whose 
Jubilee  Year  we  are  now  celebrating.  It  is  an 
interesting  coincidence  that  the  year  1868  saw 


War. 


WHAT   OUR   MOTHERS   HAVE    TOLD    US      11 

the  organization  of  Sorosis,  the  New  England 
Woman's  Club,  and  the  Congregational  Wom- 
an's Board  of  Missions. 

Although  organized  woman's  work  on  dis-  The  fore- 
tinctly  foreign  missionary  lines  begins  with  the 
period  of  the  Civil  War,  it  was  preceded,  as  is 
always  the  case,  by  a  number  of  sporadic,  unor- 
ganized undertakings  of  the  same  nature.  In 
the  great  missionary  awakening  of  the  early 
part  of  the  century,  women  had  their  full  share. 
They  had  little  money  to  give  ;  partly  because 
the  country  was  poor,  but  more  because  women 
were  not  earning  nor  controlling  money  at 
that  time.  But  time  they  gave  generously,  loy- 
alty and  prayer,  and  such  scant  penny-crumbs 
as  they  could  scrape  together  by  beautiful  self- 
denials.  The  egg  money,  the  butter  money, 
the  rag  money,  was  theirs  to  squander  in 
missions  if  they  chose,  and  choose  they  did. 
Hundreds  of  Female  Cent  Societies  were  in  ex- 
istence throughout  New  England  ;  then  there 
were  the  ]\Iite  Societies,  the  Female  Praying 
Societies,  the  Female  Association,  and  many 
orifts  from  Sewinof  and  Dorcas  Societies. 

The  pioneer  organization  for  foreign  missions  Boston 

amongf  women  seems  to  be  the  Boston  Female  f^™^^® 
°  ^     ^  Society. 

Society  for  Missionary  Purposes,  established 
in  1800,  two  months  before  Care}'  baptized  his 
first  convert  in  India.  This  society  included 
for  a  time  both  Baptists  and  Congregationalists. 
In  the  beginning  it  seems  to  have  contemplated 


12    WESTERN   WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

no  field  of  "  foreign "  missions  farther  away 
than  the  aborigines  of  the  frontier ;  but  very- 
soon  its  members  became  interested  in  the 
support  of  the  English  Baptist  work  in  India. 
The  richest  treasure  bequeathed  by  this  early 
organization  was  neither  its  contributions  nor 
its  example,  but  the  inspiration  of  a  noble  char- 
acter in  the  person  of  its  first  secretary  and 
treasurer,  Miss  i\Iary  Webb.  She  was  a  help- 
less cripple,  with  little  or  none  of  this  world's 
goods,  but  of  such  ardent  consecration  and  un- 
wearying energy  that  she  accomplished  with 
her  poor  bent  body  the  work  of  a  spiritual 
athlete.  No  one  parish  could  contain  her  free 
spirit.  Her  little  green  baize  hand-carriage 
was  pushed  by  her  own  frail  hands  wherever 
there  were  human  needs  to  be  relieved  or  human 
spirits  to  be  redeemed.  In  addition  to  her  per- 
sonal ministry  among  the  poor  she  organized 
benevolent  societies  among  young  and  old,  cor- 
responded with  some  sixty  organizations  among 
women  in  different  parts  of  the  United  States, 
inaugurated  a  monthly  concert  of  prayer  among 
them,  and  threw  lierself  as  the  moving  spirit 
into  this  first  organization  that  was  to  draw  out 
the  sympathies  of  American  women  beyond  the 
borders  of  tlieir  own  land.  All  the  early  rec- 
ords of  the  Boston  Female  Society  are  perme- 
ated with  her  tireless  enthusiasm.  In  1811  the 
entire  contributions  for  the  year,  two  hundred 
dollars,  were  voted  "  to  the  translation  of  the 


WHAT  OUR   MOTHERS  HAVE   TOLD    US      13 

Scriptures  by  the  Missionaries  of  Serampore  in 
Bengal."  In  1813  "spinning,  weaving,  and 
knitting  societies  are  multiplying  with  a  view 
to  aid  in  the  great  object  of  sending  the  Gospel 
to  the  ends  of  the  earth." 

A  year  later,  in    1801,  the    Congregational  Society  for 
women  established  a  society  called  the  Boston  *.  ®   \  ^' 

■J  sion  of 

Female  Society  for  Promoting  the  Diffusion  of  Christian 
Christian  Knowledge.  This  was  to  raise  funds  °^  ^  ^*^' 
for  the  ^lassachusetts  Missionary  Society  of  the 
same  denomination,  formed  in  1799.  This  so- 
ciety was  organized  "  to  diffuse  the  Gospel 
among  the  people  in  the  newly  settled  parts  of 
the  country,  among  the  Indians,  and  through 
more  distant  regions,  as  circumstances  shall  in- 
vite, and  the  ability  of  the  society  shall  admit." 
The  contributions  of  the  women  helped  to  swell 
the  funds  of  this  society  mitil  it  was  absorbed 
in  its  foreign  department  by  the  organization 
of  the  American  Board. 

The  first  legacy  received  by  the  pioneer  SaUy 
denominational  Foreign  Missionary  Society  o^^^s. 
was  given  by  Sally  Thomas.  She  was  a  poor 
woman,  supporting  herself  as  a  domestic  servant. 
Her  wages  never  exceeded  the  pittance  of  fifty 
cents  per  week.  Out  of  this  sum  in  a  long  and 
industrious  life  she  had  managed  to  save  the 
really  remarkable  sum  of  $315.83,  and  this  she 
bequeathed  at  her  death  to  the  American  Board. 
It  is  to  be  doubted  whether,  in  all  its  wonderful 
historv,  the  Board   has   ever  received  a   more 


14     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 


A  dollar  a 
patch. 


Fayette 

Street 

Church. 


glorious  or  more  blessed  legacy.  By  it,  plain 
Sally  Thomas,  "  the  hired  girl,"  entered  into  the 
elect  company  of  Mary  with  her  box  of  spike- 
nard very  precious,  and  of  the  widow  who 
dropped  her  mite  into  the  treasury;  and  of  her, 
too,  wherever  the  Gospel  is  preached,  the  thing 
shall  be  spoken  as  a  memorial.  Two  years  later 
a  woman  very  rich  for  those  primitive  times 
created  quite  a  thrill  when  she  left  $30,000  to 
the  same  Board.  Thirty  whole  thousands  for 
foreign  missions  !  The  largest  legacy  received 
for  many,  many  years.  Doubtless  her  offering, 
too,  fragrL'::t  with  faith,  came  up  for  a  memorial 
of  her  before  God. 

In  1803  a  female  missionary  society  was 
founded  in  Southampton  to  give  and  pray  for 
the  heathen.  It  is  related  that  one  of  the 
charter  members  gave  $12  for  missions  when 
she  had  twelve  patches  on  her  shoes.  This 
little  society  has  had  a  continuous  history  from 
the  beginning.  From  it  missionaries  have 
gone  to  every  land,  and  last  year  its  society  of 
thirty  members  gave  $89. 

Another  interesting  early  organization  is  that 
connected  with  the  Fayette  Street  Church  of  New 
York  City,  now  the  Church  of  the  Epiphany. 
For  some  time  the  women  of  the  congregation 
had  been  meeting  regularly  for  prayer,  that  they 
might  be  directed  to  some  special  missionary 
object.  They  knew  so  little  of  the  great  un- 
evangelized  world,  but  their  hearts  went  out  in 


WHAT  OUR   MOTHERS  HAVE    TOLD    US      15 

a  desire  to  help,  and  like  the  call  of  God  came 
the  appeal  of  Judson  to  the  Baptists  of  America. 
It  was  a  strange  Providence  which  God  used, 
the  change  of  views  of  Adoniram  Judson,  to 
arouse  a  whole  denomination  to  its  duty.  The 
little  society  of  Fayette  Street  at  once  set 
bravely  to  work  in  support  of  the  Judsons,  and 
from  that  day  to  the  present  has  continued  its 
benefactions. 

In  1819  "  a  very  large  number  of  the  brethren  "Wesleyan 
of  the  Methodist  Society"  were  inspired  by  the  I'^^^yf^  '"^ 
reports  of  the  triumphs  of  the  Gospel  among  the  street. 
Indians  to  form  the  Missionary  and  Bible  Society 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  America. 
They  graciously  voted  that  "  females  attached 
to  Methodist  congregations  be  invited  to  form 
a  society  auxiliary  to  this,"  and  within  ninety 
days,  July  5,  1819,  a  "  number  of  females  "  met 
at  the  Wesleyan  Seminary  on  Forsyth  Street 
and  formed  the  oldest  women's  missionary  so- 
ciety in  the  Methodist  Church.  Their  address 
to  their  sisters  in  the  church  reads  as  follows : 
"  Shall  we  who  dwell  in  ease  and  plenty,  whose 
tables  are  loaded  with  the  bounties  of  Provi- 
dence, and  whose  persons  are  clothed  with  fine- 
wrought  materials  of  the  Eastern  looms,  shall 
we  who  sit  under  the  droppings  of  the  sanctu- 
ary, and  are  blessed  with  the  stated  ordinances 
of  the  house  of  God,  thus  highly,  thus  gra- 
ciously privileged,  shall  we  deny  the  small  sub- 
scription this  institution  solicits  to  extend  the 


16     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

bare  necessities  of  life  to  our  dear  brethren  who 
are  spending  their  strength  and  wasting  their 
health  in  traversing  dreary  mountains  and  path- 
less forests  to  carry  the  glad  tidings  of  free 
salvation  to  the  scattered  inhabitants  of  the  wil- 
derness ?  "  Which  long  and  somewhat  breath- 
less question  they  proceeded  to  answer  in  direct 
and  practical  fashion.  In  1836  it  was  the  privi- 
lege of  this  early  society  to  send  out  to  Liberia 
Ann  Wilkins,  one  of  the  most  remarkable  of  the 
pioneer  missionaries.  She  had  attended  the 
camp-meeting  at  Sing  Sing,  where  a  returned 
missionary  was  pleading  for  more  helpers  in 
the  distant  fields  of  Africa.  At  the  close 
of  the  meeting  she  handed  to  Dr.  Nathan 
Bangs  the  following  note :  "  A  sister  who  has 
a  little  money  at  command  gives  that  little 
cheerfully,  and  is  willing  to  give  her  life  as  a 
female  teacher  if  she  is  wanted." 

For  twenty  years  she  taught  in  the  wilds  of 
Liberia,  and  twice  during  that  time  braved  the 
discomforts  of  the  long  sailing  voyage  to  plead 
in  America  for  a  "  female  seminary  under  the 
care  of  a  judicious  instructress  who  shall  be 
capable  of  teaching  the  different  branches  of 
female  industry  and  economy." 

A  word  of  Bishop  Hartzell  connects  this  long- 
ago  saint  with  our  own  time.  "  Some  years 
ago  "  he  says,  "  representatives  of  Great  Britain 
and  Liberia  went  into  the  interior  to  settle  some 
question  of  boundary  between  Sierra  Leone  and 


WHAT  OUR  MOTHERS  HAVE    TOLD    US      17 

Liberia.  The  day  before  Easter  they  arrived 
at  the  capital  town  of  a  native  tribe  and  ar- 
ranged to  stay  in  camp  over  Sunday.  To  their 
surprise,  they  found  that  these  pagans  had  re- 
fused to  allow  any  Mohammedan  missionaries 
to  come  among  them.  They  said  that  years 
before  some  of  their  young  people  had  been  in  a 
school  in  Monrovia  taught  by  Ann  Wilkins,  and 
that  they  had  waited  all  these  years  for  Ann 
Wilkins's  God  to  come  to  them."    (Condensed.) 

Perhaps  one  of  the  most  remarkable  of  all  The  Brook- 
those  early  groups  is  the  little  band  of  women  ^°®  ladies, 
in  Brookline,  Mass.,  that  regularly  met  at  the 
home  of  Mrs.  Ropes,  to  pray  for  Japan  and  to 
contribute  to  its  Christianization.  This  was  in 
1829,  twentj'-five  years  before  Perry's  fleet 
sailed  into  the  harbor  of  Yeddo,  thirty  years 
before  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  had 
the  honor  of  sending  the  first  pioneer  mission- 
ary to  Japan,  and  forty  years  before  the  American 
Board  opened  the  ^Mission  of  the  Congregational 
Church  in  the  Island  Empire. 

How  did  the  women  of  this  quiet  New  Eng- 
land village,  long  before  the  days  of  the  illus- 
trated magazine,  the  globe-trotter,  the  electric 
cable,  know  of  Japan  and  its  needs  ?  The  story 
is  a  pretty  one.  On  the  table  in  the  pleasant 
parlor  where  the  sewing  society  met  stood  a 
dainty  basket  of  bamboo,  the  gift  of  a  sea-cap- 
tain to  the  notable  Christian  merchant,  Honor- 
able William  Ropes,  in  whose  house  they  met. 


18     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDi, 


The  Newark 
women. 


Chronologi- 
cal list. 


From  an  interest  in  the  cunningly  woven  basket 
to  one  in  its  makers  the  women  passed,  by  that 
oldest  human  highroad  to  reality,  —  "  what  we 
have  seen,  what  our  own  hands  have  handled,"  — 
and  began,  in  faith,  to  pray  for  Japan,  and  in  love, 
to  give,  that  their  prayers  might  have  wings. 
During  the  years  they  were  together  they  con- 
tributed six  hundred  dollars  (!|600)  to  the 
evangelization  of  Japan.  This  was  scrupu- 
lously set  aside  by  the  American  Board,  and 
when  used,  forty  years  after  the  little  group 
began  to  pray,  it  amounted  to  four  thousand 
one  hundred  and  four  dollars  and  twenty-six 
cents  (.f 4104. 26).  (See  file  of  the  Missionary 
Herald,  1883.) 

In  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Newark, 
N.J.,  there  was  organized  in  1835  a  society  of 
women  who,  quite  undismayed  by  closed  doors 
and  small  resources,  nailed  their  flag  to  the 
mast,  in  the  very  name  they  chose,  "  Society 
for  the  Evangelization  of  the  World."  In  the 
first  ten  years  of  their  history  they  contributed 
twenty-three  hundred  dollars  to  the  American 
Board  (there  being  no  Presbyterian  Board  at 
that  time),  and  the  society  still  lives  and  flour- 
ishes. At  the  Jubilee  meeting  in  1885,  one  of 
the  original  members  and  twenty  descendants 
of  original  members  were  present. 

The  list  of  these  early  societies  has  been  very 
carefully  compiled  by  Miss  Ellen  C.  Parsons, 
and  is  printed  with  due  credit  to  her  in  the 


A  Moslem  Madonna 


WHAT   OUR   MOTHERS  HAVE    TOLD    US      19 

Encyclopedia  of  Missions.     For  convenience  in 
reference  it  is  given  below: 

1800.  Boston  Female  Society  for  Missionary  Purposes. 
(Baptist  and  Congregational.) 

ISOl.  Boston  Female  Society  for  the  Promotion  and 
Diffusion  of  Christian  Knowledge.  (Congrega- 
tional.) 

180-3.  Female  Missionary  Society  of  Southampton,  Mass. 
(Congregational.) 

1808.     Female  Mite  Society  of  Beverly,  Mass.  (Baptist.) 

1811.  Salem  Female  Cent  Society,  Massachusetts.    (Bap- 

tist.) 

1812.  Female  Foreign  Missionary  Society  of  New  Haven, 

Conn.     (Congregational.) 

1814.  Fayette  Street  Church  Woman's  Missionary 
Society.     (Baptist.) 

1816.  Female  Charitable  Society  of  Tallniadge,  Ohio. 
(Congregational.)  (Sent  first  contribution  re- 
ceived from  west  of  the  Alleghanies  by  the 
American  Board.) 

1819.  Wesleyan  Seminary  Missionary  Society.  (Method- 
ist.) 

1823.  Society  for  the  Support  of  Heathen  Youth,  New 
York.     (Presbyterian.) 

183.5.  Society  for  the  Evangelization  of  the  World, 
Newark,  N.J.     (Presbyterian.) 

1847.  Free  Baptist  Female  Missionary  Society,  Sutton, 

Vt.     Never  disbanded. 

1848.  Ladies'    China    Missionary    Society,    Baltimore. 

(Methodist.) 

It  is  tempting  to  linger  on  these  early  days,  An  eariy 
to  describe  the  sewing-circles,  the  knitting-bees,  ^^^^^ 
the  mission  boxes  packed  for  the  far  frontier, 
the  homely,  sweet,  small  self-denials  that  make 
these  days  of  the  pioneer  mothers  so  full   of 


20     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

helpful  stimulus.  One  record  preserved  in  the 
Panoplist  of  Boston,  1813,  is  too  good  to  omit,  a 
letter  addressed  to  the  Treasurer  of  the  Ameri- 
can Board. 

Bath,  N.IL,  August  17,  1813. 

Dear  Sir:   Mr.  M will    deliver  $177  into  your 

hands. 

The  items  are  as  follows : 

From  an   obscure  female,  who  kept  the  money 
for  many  years,  waiting  for  a  proper  oppor- 
tunity to  bestow   it   upon  a  religious  object,  $100.00 
From  an  aged  woman  in  Barnet,  Vt.,  being  the 

avails  of  a  small  dairy  the  past  year   ....       50.00 
From  the  same,  being  the  avails  of  two  super- 
fluous garments 10.00 

From  the  Cent  Society  in  this  place,  being  haH 

their  annual  subscription 11.00 

My  own  donation,   being  the  same  hitherto  ex- 
pended in   ardent   spirits   in  my  family,  but 

now  totally  discontinued 5.00 

From  a  woman  in  extreme  indigence     ....         1.00 

$177.00 

Aconse-  Another  story  is  told  of  a  silver  coffee-pot 

*""g  which  was  the  offering  of  a  pastor's  family  who 

could  not  give  money,  and  so  gave  something 
dearer.  The  coffee-pot  and  its  story  went  to 
a  meeting  where  three  hundred  dollars  were 
dropped  into  it,  and  fifty  years  later  five 
hundred  dollars  ;  and  when,  in  1893,  it  was 
brought  to  the  World's  Fair,  with  its  sweet  old 
story  of  human  love  and  sacrifice,  more  than 
three  thousand  dollars  were  dropped  into  its 
historic  depths. 


WHAT  OUR  MOTHERS  HAVE    TOLD    US       21 

After  a  half  century  of  skirmishing,  during  The  main 
which  a  new  generation,  trained  to  pray  and  ^^^y- 
give  by  their  missionary  mothers,  had  come 
upon  the  stage,  the  main  body  of  the  woman's 
missionary  army  had  come  rapidly  into  the  field 
to  begin  its  organized  campaign  for  oppressed 
womanhood  and  childhood  in  non-Christian, 
lands.  Before  considering  the  organization  of 
these  societies  in  our  own  land,  it  is  necessary 
to  glance  at  the  beginnings  in  England,  ante- 
dating ours  by  many  years,  and  inspired  by  the 
same  appeal. 

In  the  Slimmer  of  1834:  an  American  mission-  Appeal  of 
ary  in  China,  Rev.  David  Abeel,  was  on  his  ^jjgei, 
way  home  to  recruit  his  shattered  health  —  the 
regular  route  at  that  time  being  by  way  of 
England.  While  in  London  Mr.  Abeel  was 
invited  to  address  a  little  company  of  ladies 
gathered  in  a  private  drawing-room,  in  what 
was  destined  to  be  perhaps  the  most  important 
afternoon  tea  in  history.  The  missionary  was 
fresh  from  his  work,  burning  with  a  great  con- 
viction. The  helplessness  and  misery  of  the 
women  of  the  Orient  had  profoundly  touched 
him,  and  he  had  seen  also  the  hopelessness  of 
attempting  to  dislodge  heathenism  while  its 
main  citadel,  "  the  home,"  was  unreached,  and 
unreachable  by  the  agencies  then  employed. 
Thinking  long  and  deeply  over  the  problem,  he 
had  come  to  hold  the  then  revolutionary  doc- 
trine that  it  was  absolutely  necessary  to  bring 


22     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 


.Society  for 
])rom()ting 
Female 
Education 
in  the  East. 


into  the  field  unmarried  women  to  reach  and 
teach  the  women  and  children.  Men  were  shut 
out  from  ministry  by  the  iron  bars  of  custom 
that  imprisoned  women  in  zenanas,  secluding 
them  from  all  contact  with  the  world.  The 
missionary  wife  at  best  could  give  only  a  frag- 
ment of  her  strength  and  time  to  the  work  ; 
then  why  not  send  out  women  to  minister  to 
the  uncounted  millions  of  women  in  non-Chris- 
tian lands?  He  had  come  home  witli  a  message  ; 
he  was  eager  to  deliver  it  ;  this  was  his  first 
opportunity.  Tlie  hearts  of  the  sheltered 
women  were  stirred  as  he  told  tliem  of  the 
degradation  which  his  own  eyes  had  witnessed 
in  India,  and  delivered  the  message  of  some 
Chinese  women,  "  Are  there  no  female  men  who 
can  come  to  teach  us  ?  "  He  pictured  to  them 
the  tremendous  power  for  good  locked  up  in 
these  millions  untaught,  untrained  ;  these 
heathen  mothers  whose  great  influence  was  now 
thrown  on  the  side  of  superstition  and  evil 
custom.  Would  they  not,  he  asked,  stretch 
out  a  helping  hand  to  their  sisters  ? 

The  appeal  met  swift  response.  A  group  of 
women  of  different  denominations  formed  them- 
selves into  a  society  for  the  purpose  of  meeting 
the  want  so  powerfully  described.  This  was 
called  "  The  Society  for  promoting  Female  Edu- 
cation in  the  East."  At  this  time  in  India  the 
direct  agencies  of  house  to  house  visitation,  ad- 
dresses to  groups  of  women  and  zenana  work, 


WHAT  OUR  MOTHERS  HAVE    TOLD    US      23 

were  impossible,  on  account  of  prejudice  and 
seclusion.  Schools  where  orphans  and  aban- 
doned girls  could  be  gathered  were  possible, 
so  the  society  entered  the  one  door  open. 

The  new  venture  met  with  scant  encourage- 
ment. Men  and  women  doubted  the  practicabil- 
ity and  agreed  as  to  the  impropriety  of  sending 
out  "unmarried  females."  Many  even  of  the 
missionaries  were  utterly  hopeless  as  to  any 
good  being  accomplished.  One  of  the  leading 
missionaries  in  India  said  that  to  attempt  female 
education  in  that  country  was  as  hopeless  as  to 
try  to  scale  a  wall  five  hundred  yards  high. 
But  the  women,  not  to  be  discouraged  by  San- 
ballat  and  Tobiah,  pressed  on  to  build  the  wall 
as  did  Nehemiah  of  old;  "made  their  prayer 
unto  God  and  labored  in  the  work  from  the 
rising  of  the  morning  till  the  stars  appeared." 
Thus  was  founded  this  oldest  of  the  great  mis- 
sionary boards  of  women,  a  society  that  for 
three-quarters  of  a  century  has  gone  on  its  ever 
growing  work  of  blessing.  From  China  to 
South  India,  to  Ceylon,  to  North  India,  to 
Palestine,  to  Persia,  to  South  Africa,  to  Japan, 
their  missionaries  have  gone;. zenana  workers, 
teachers,  physicians,  nurses,  evangelists,  an  ever 
enlarging  sisterhood  of  ministry. 

After  delivering  his  message  in  England  with  No  success 
such  marked  success,  Mr.  Abeel  returned  to  his  "^  ^nienca. 
own  country  to  attempt  to  arouse  his  country- 
women   to   the   same    great    opportunity.     He 


24     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 


Woman's 
Union 
Missionary 
Society. 


spoke  to  large  groups  of  ladies  in  New  York 
City,  and  met  such  encouraging  response  that 
the  organization  of  a  Woman's  Board  to  do  this 
distinctive  work  among  the  women  of  the  East 
was  contemplated.  Mrs.  Doremus  had  for  years 
been  praying  for  missions  and  was  ready  to 
espouse  the  new  cause,  but  the  time  was  not 
yet  ripe  for  it  in  America,  ever  more  conserva- 
tive in  social  reforms  than  the  mother-country. 
The  innovation  was  so  stoutly  resisted  by  the 
denominational  Boards  that  at  their  urgent  re- 
quest the  new  organization  was  given  up  and 
woman's  work  for  woman  in  heathen  lands 
postponed  for  thirty  years  and  more. 

In  1860  the  wife  of  a  Baptist  missionary  in 
Burmah  was  returning  on  furlough  from  her 
field  of  labor.  She  had  the  same  story  to  tell 
with  regard  to  the  degradation  of  women  in 
heathen  lands  which  Mr.  Abeel  had  told ;  the 
same  convictions  in  regard  to  the  futility  of 
centering  missions  on  anything  else  than  the 
home;  and  the  same  conclusion  that  this  work 
for  women  must  be  done  by  women  if  at  all. 
She  succeeded  in  interesting  a  body  of  women 
in  New  York  City,  led  by  the  same  Mrs. 
Doremus  who  in  1834  had  responded  to  the 
appeal  of  Mr.  Abeel.  To  the  character  and 
influence  of  Mrs.  Doremus  the  missionary  work 
of  the  world  is  in  debt.  "  While  others  ex- 
patiated on  the  inconvenience  and  cost,  if  not 
the  fanaticism  of  such  a  project,  she,  like  Isa- 


WHAT  OUR   MOTHERS  HAVE    TOLD    US      25 

bella,  believed  in  things  not  seen,  and  acted 
with  an  intelligence  and  energy  inspired  from 
above." 

The  society  was  incorporated  in  February, 
1861,  with  Mrs.  Doremus  as  its  first  president. 
The  membership  included  women  of  many 
denominations.  In  prosecution  of  its  works, 
branches,  auxiliaries,  and  mission  bands  sprang 
up  in  Boston,  Philadelphia,  Albany,  Cincinnati, 
Chicago,  Louisville,  St.  Louis,  and  many  other 
places.  In  spite  of  the  storm  of  the  Civil  War 
which  broke  in  the  very  opening  years  of  the 
society,  its  work  went  steadily  on,  the  inspira- 
tion and  pattern  of  the  denominational  Boards 
which  began  to  be  organized  soon  after  the 
close  of  the  war. 

A  true  John  the  Baptist,  this  society  was 
preparing  the  way  for  the  definite  assumption  of 
its  share  of  the  responsibility  by  each  denomi- 
nation,—  relatively  it  must  decrease,  they  must 
increase,  but  the  Christian  union  in  which  the 
Avork  began  may  be  again  realized  in  some  wider 
federation  of  effort  than  is  yet  dreamed  possible. 
Among  special  reasons  commending  the  Women's 
Union  Missionary  Society,  these  have  been 
given  by  Miss  Isabel  Hart,  in  her  "  Historical 
Sketches  of  Women's  Missionary  Societies." 

"1st.  It  opened  a  way  and  established  a  precedent  in 
mission  work  which,  from  the  first,  God  has  wonderfully 
blessed,  preserved,  and  prospered. 

"  2d.   It  seeks  literally  nothing  but  the  spread  of  Jesus' 


26     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 


Congrega- 
tional 
women 
move. 


name  and  the  enlightenment  and  blessing  to  women 
which  ever  follows  the  knowledge  of  his  name. 

"  od.  It  represents  every  evangelical  denomination,  and 
its  foreign  property  has  been  the  donation  of  them  all  for 
one  common  purpose. 

"  4th.  It  was  commended  and  has  been  carried  on  by 
voluntary  workers  and  unsalaried  officers — a  free-will 
offering  of  love." 

Seven  years  after  the  organization  of  the 
Union  Missionary  Society,  the  first  of  the  great 
denominational  Women's  Boards  was  organized 
by  the  Congregationalists  in  1868,  the  same  year 
in  which  Sorosis  and  the  New  England  Woman's 
Club  were  organized.  For  several  years  the 
project  had  been  taking  form;  for  the  experi- 
ence of  the  pioneer  society  had  demonstrated 
the  need  and  the  value  of  the  women's  work. 
Meanwhile  the  barriers  to  such  work  were 
rapidly  giving  way  in  foreign  countries,  and 
the  prejudices  of  the  brethren  were  soften- 
ing at  home.  Some  of  the  strongest  men  on 
the  mission  field  were  openly  urging  the  need 
of  very  greatly  augmenting  the  number  of  un- 
married women  missionaries,  and  tlie  recognition 
of  the  strategic  importance  of  the  direct  work 
for  women  was  growing.  It  was  becoming 
clear,  too,  that  no  interdenominational  society 
could  fully  rouse  the  churches  to  the  vastness 
of  their  opportunities;  and  that  in  the  un- 
suspected magnitude  of  the  work  opening  be- 
fore them  there  was  ample  room  for  distinctive 
denominational  organizations  of  women,  in  ad- 


WHAT  OUR  MOTHERS  HAVE   TOLD    US      27 

dition  to  the  splendid  Union  Society  already  in 
the  field. 

With  characteristic  New  England  thorough-  Thorough 
ness  months  were  spent  by  the  Congregational  ^o^g^"^^" 
women  in  preparation.  Frequent  meetings  for 
prayer  and  conference  were  held,  and  at  last, 
after  eight  months  of  continuous  agitation,  a 
meeting  was  called  in  the  historic  Old  South 
Church.  The  moving  spirit  in  these  prepara- 
tions was  Mrs.  Albert  Bowker,  later  the  inspiring 
president  of  the  society.  Forty  women  re- 
sponded to  the  call ;  timid,  distrustful  of  their 
powers,  full  of  trepidation  at  the  greatness  of 
the  task,  yet  conscious  of  the  Power  pushing 
them  out  of  the  soft  nest  of  traditional  inter- 
ests into  a  new  world  of  wide-sweeping  outlook 
and  dizzjdng  possibilities.  Mrs.  William  But- 
ler, wife  of  the  pioneer  of  Methodist  Missions 
in  India,  was  present  by  invitation,  and  spoke 
to  them  of  the  awful  needs  of  the  women  of 
India,  as  they  had  pressed  on  her  heart  day  by 
day. 

A  letter  from  Dr.  N.  G.  Clark,  Secretary  Theorgani- 
of  the  American  Board,  was  read,  encouraging  ^^^^^°- 
the  women  in  their  new  venture,  and  laying 
before  them  the  fact  that  several  well-educated 
women  were  ready  to  go  to  the  foreign  field 
if  their  support  were  assured.  It  was  finally 
voted  to  unite  in  the  following  statement : 

"  Grateful  for  living  in  such  an  age,  and   in  view  of 
the  sublime  possibilities  of  the  hour,  we  will,  by  sympa- 


28     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

thy,  prayer,  labor,  and  contributions  band  together  and 
engage  in  the  blessed  work  of  giving  the  Bread  of  Life 
to  the  perishing." 

Then  by  a  rising  vote  it  was  determined  "  to 
form  a  society  cooperating  with  the  American 
Board  in  its  several  departments  of  hibor  for 
the  benefit  of  our  sex  in  heathen  lands." 

The  following  week  the  committee  on  con- 
stitution and  officers  reported,  and  the  New 
England  Women's  Foreign  Missionary  Society 
was  formally  organized.  Within  a  few  months 
the  scheme  of  forwarding  collections  gathered 
from  various  denominations  to  their  respec- 
tive boards  was  abandoned,  as  it  was  seen 
that  the  women  of  each  denomination  could 
best  work  in  cooperation  with  their  own 
boards.  The  name  at  the  same  time  was 
changed  to  its  present  form  by  removing  the 
limitation  of  its  field  to  New  England.  The 
new  society  received  a  testing  at  the  time  of 
its  first  annual  meeting.  A  real  New  Eng- 
land blizzard  was  raging,  and  many  of  the 
faithful  workers,  as  they  drove  across  country 
to  catch  a  train,  or  ploughed  their  way  through 
the  almost  impassable  streets,  wondered  if  any 
one  else  would  be  there.  What  was  their 
amazement  to  find  that  six  hundred  women, 
not  only  from  suburban  towns,  but  even  from 
surrounding  states,  had  assembled  to  give 
thanks  to  God  for  his  goodness.  They  had 
raised   five   thousand   dollars ;    seven  mission- 


WHAT   OUR   MOTHERS  HAVE    TOLD    US      29 

aries   were    in   the    field ;    the  work  begun   in 
weakness  was  growing  in  power. 

In  their  first  Annual  Report,  1869,  the  Sec-  First 
retary  stated  : 


Annual 
Report, 
1869. 


"  They  had  learned  during  the  mighty  conflict  of  pre- 
ceding years  which  had  called  forth  the  energies  of  our 
country  that  there  was  work  for  woman  also,  and  quite 
within  her  own  sphere  she  might  lind  ample  scope  and 
pressing  need  for  her  unwearied  labors,  watchings,  and 
prayers.  These  she  gave;  and  they  were  not  in  vain, 
but  had  their  humble  share  in  hastening  on  the  day  of 
our  country's  deliverance.  .  .  .  And  now  she  asks  what 
she  may  do  to  hasten  the  day  of  deliverance  to  the  multi- 
tudes who  are  in  the  thraldom  of  Satan." 

How  different  were  the  conditions  under  Contrast 
which  these  pioneer  societies  worked  from 
those  of  the  present  day  I  Take  the  item 
of  postage,  for  instance.  We  now  pay  two 
cents  postage  for  mail  to  Great  Britain,  five 
cents  to  the  rest  of  the  world.  Then  it  cost 
fifty  cents  to  take  a  letter  to  Harpoot,  nine- 
teen cents  to  Sardokov,  twenty-one  cents  to 
India,  ten  cents  to  China,  fifty  cents  to  Cen- 
tral Turkey,  twenty-seven  cents  to  South 
Africa.  For  years  the  scanty  mails  were  made 
up  on  Thursdays  at  the  Board  rooms.  Add  to 
slow  and  expensive  communication  abroad  the 
inadequacy  of  railway  service  at  home  and 
the  comparative  difficulty  of  reaching  distant 
churches.  It  was  no  earlier  than  1861:  when 
it  took  from  August  15  to  November  15  to  get 


30     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 


Methodist 

womea 

organize. 


mail  to  Montana,  and  when  that  distant  ter- 
ritory was  for  one  long,  terrible  year  (July, 
1862-1863)  cut  o&  from  all  mail  from  the 
outside  world.  In  1870  there  were  less  than 
two  inhabitants  to  the  square  mile  over  the 
western  half  of  the  continent,  and  the  centre  of 
population  was  in  eastern  Ohio.  It  took  faith 
and  patience  to  weave  the  fine  network  of 
organization  by  which  the  scant  resources  of 
the  women  were  gathered  for  missions. 

The  first  denomination  to  follow  the  organi- 
zation of  the  two  Congregational  Societies  (the 
women  of  the  interior  had  organized  at  Chicago 
a  few  months  later  than  their  sisters  at  Boston) 
was  the  Methodist  Episcopal.  As  has  already 
been  shown,  the  Methodist  women  had  been 
early  in  the  field  with  independent  societies  in 
particular  localities,  notably  those  of  the  Wes- 
leyan  Seminary,  and  the  Ladies'  China  Mission- 
ary Society  of  Baltimore  already  mentioned. 
It  was  felt  that  the  time  had  now  come  for  a 
general  society,  national  in 'scope.  This  grow- 
ing conviction  was  not  without  opposition  in 
influential  quarters.     As  one  noted  divine  in  an 

editorial  note  in  the Advocate  gloomily  put 

it :  "Some  of  the  most  thoughtful  minds  are  be- 
ginning to  ask  what  is  to  become  of  this  Woman 
movement  in  the  Church,"  and  then  taking  heart 
of  grace  continued,  "  Let  them  alone  —  all 
through  our  liistory  like  movements  have  started. 
Do  not  ojjpose  them,  and  it  will  die  out." 


WHAT  OUR    MOTHERS  HAVE    TOLD    US      31 

His  gracious  hopes  were  not  to  be  realized. 
The  women  continued  their  agitation,  aided  and 
abetted  by  the  missionaries  who  knew  the 
terrible  need  on  the  field,  and  by  the  broader- 
minded  of  the  brethen  at  home  who  had  not 
imbibed  that  fear  of  what  the  women  might  do  if 
left  to  themselves  which  marked  one  of  the  early 
pastors.  He  always  attended  the  women's 
missionary  prayer-meetings  because,  he  said, 
"  You  never  could  tell  what  those  women  might 
take  to  praying  for  if  left  alone." 

Notice  had  been  sent  out  to  all  the  Methodist  a  stormy 
churches  of  Boston  and  vicinity  that  on  Tues-  ™^^^*'°^ 
day  afternoon,  IMarch  23,  18G9,  a  meeting 
would  be  held  in  the  Tremont  Street  Church  to 
consider  the  organization  of  a  Woman's  Foreign 
Missionary  Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.  When  the  morning  came,  Mrs.  Par- 
ker, a  returned  missionary  and  a  prime  mover 
in  the  matter,  looked  out  of  her  window  to  find 
the  worst  storm  of  the  season  raging,  and  she 
twenty-five  miles  from  the  place  of  meeting. 
Husband  and  friends  tried  to  dissuade  her  from 
going,  but  with  the  vision  of  her  poor  women 
in  India  before  her,  she  said,  "  You  can  do  as  you 
think  best,  but  /must  go  to  Boston." 

On  arriving  at  the  church  she  found  Mrs. 
William  Butler  and  six  other  ladies  who  had 
braved  the  storm.  Nothing  daunted,  the  in- 
trepid group  resolved  to  go  ahead  and  form  a  so- 
ciety.    Mrs.  Butler  prayed,  Mrs.  Parker  spoke, 


movement. 


32     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

a  committee  on  nomination  of  officers  was  ap- 
pointed; they  agreed  on  a  list  of  names,  sang 
the  doxology,  and  adjourned  to  meet  in  one 
week.  When  the  second  day  of  meeting  came, 
a  drenching  rain  fell;  but  more  women  were 
present,  a  constitution  was  adopted,  and  the 
greatest  Woman's  Missionary  Society  of  the 
country  was  fully  launched. 
Indorsement  The  far-sighted  secretaries  of  the  general  de- 
*  nominational  Board  from  the  first  took  a  cor- 

dial attitude  toward  the  new  society.  Dr.  Dur- 
bin  and  Dr.  Harris  met  with  the  ladies  in  May, 
and  the  following  conclusions  were  reached: 

"  1st.  That  such  a  society  is  much  needed  to  unite 
the  ladies  of  the  Methodist  Church  in  increased  effort  to 
meet  the  demand  for  labor  among  women  in  heathen 
lands. 

"  2d.  That  this  society,  though  not  auxiliary  to  the 
general  missionary  society,  should  work  in  harmony  with 
it,  seeking  its  counsel  and  approval  in  all  its  work. 

"3d.  That  a  missionary  paper  might  be  established 
by  the  ladies  of  the  society  with  great  profit  to  the  entire 
missionary  cause." 

The  society,  thus  recognized  and  authorized 
by  the  Missionary  Secretaries,  was  a  new  type 
among  Women's  Missionary  Societies  in  that  it 
was  distinctly  understood  from  the  beginning 
that  it  was  not  auxiliary  to  the  general  Board. 
First  rais-  The  first  public  meeting  of  the  society  was 

held  late  in  May,  Governor  Claflin  presiding ; 
and  at  that  time  Isabella  Thoburn  was  adopted 
as   the   first   missionary.     Only   twenty  ladies 


WHAT  OUR   MOTHERS  HAVE    TOLD    US      33 

were  present ;  less  than  three  hundred  dollars 
were  in  the  treasury.  Timid  souls  demurred, 
but  as  the  rare  gifts  and  consecration  of  the 
candidate  were  disclosed,  faith  and  confidence 
revived,  and  Mrs.  Porter  rose  to  offer  the  resolu- 
tion, saying,  "  Shall  we  lose  her  because  we 
have  not  the  money  in  our  hands  ?  No,  rather 
let  us  walk  the  streets  of  Boston  in  calico 
dresses  and  save  the  expense  of  more  costly 
apparel.  Mrs.  President,  I  move  the  appoint- 
ment of  Miss  Isabella  Thoburn  as  our  mission- 
ary to  India."  Soon  after,  Clara  Swain  was 
appointed,  the  first  woman  physician  to  be  sent 
to  the  foreign  field,  and  in  the  fall  the  two 
women  sailed  together,  two  splendid  pioneers 
of  a  splendid  work. 

The  year  1870  saw  the  organization  of  three  Presbyte- 
societies  among  Presbyterian  women  in  New  "^"^  women 
York,  in  Philadelphia,  and  in  Chicago.  In  the 
spring  of  1868  there  had  been  organized  in 
New  York  a  society  called  "  The  New  Mexico, 
Arizona,  and  Colorado  Missionary  Association." 
In  1870,  encouraged  by  the  interest  and  co- 
operation developed  in  this  society,  it  was  de- 
termined to  enlarge  its  scope  so  as  to  include 
foreign  as  well  as  home  missions.  The  name 
adopted  for  the  new  society  was  "Ladies'  Board 
of  Missions  of  the  Presbyterian  Church."  It 
was  made  auxiliary  to  both  the  Home  and 
Foreign  Boards  of  the  Church.  This  organiza- 
tion was  effected  in  April,  and  in  October  of 


34     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

the  same  year,  1870,  the  women  of  Pliiladelphia 
formed  an  organization  which  was  to  work 
solely  for  foreign  missionSo 

Most  of  the  founders  of  this  society,  the 
Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  had  been  engaged  in 
the  Union  jSlissionary  Society,  which  had  been 
the  training-school  and  inspiration  of  so  many 
of  the  pioneers.  This  body  developed  splendid 
powers  of  growth  from  the  very  first.  Its 
first  annual  report  showed  contributions  of 
four  thousand  dollars  and  twelve  missionaries 
in  the  lield  ;  the  next  year  eighteen  thou- 
sand dollars  and  twelve  missionaries,  the  next 
and  the  next  still  doubling  contributions  and 
missionaries.  In  December  of  the  same  year 
the  Presbyterian  women  of  the  Northwest  or- 
ganized in  Chicago. 
Women's  In  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  also  there 

auxiliary.  j^^^  been  sporadic  organizations  of  women  in- 
terested in  missionary  work,  who,  upon  the  pres- 
entation by  the  bishop  or  other  missionaries 
of  particular  needs  of  the  field,  had  volunteered 
help  in  the  ways  of  supplies  and  money.  In 
1868  the  Ladies'  Domestic  Missionary  Relief 
Association  had  been  formed  to  cooperate  in 
work  for  the  Domestic  Missions.  In  1871, 
when  the  general  convention  of  the  Church 
met  at  Baltimore,  there  was  full  discussion  of 
plans  for  forming  a  general  organization  of 
women  interested  in  missionary  work.     It  was 


y^HAT  OUR  MOTHERS  HAVE    TOLD    US      35 

found  that  the  Domestic  Missionary  Society  al- 
ready formed  wished  to  confine  its  work  to  Do- 
mestic Missions,  and  that  many  parish  societies 
looked  askance  at  the  new  organization.  It 
was  left  for  Miss  Mary  A.  Emery  to  suggest  to 
the  secretaries  of  the  committee  a  plan  that 
overcame  most  of  the  difficulties  and  resulted 
in  the  formation  of  the  Woman's  Auxiliary  to 
the  Board  of  Missions,  in  1872,  which  is  to-day 
the  one  society  representing  woman's  work  for 
missions,  domestic  and  foreign,  in  the  Protes- 
tant Episcopal  Church. 

In  1869  the  Canadian  Baptists  were  contribut-  Canadian 
ing  to  Foreign  Missions  through  the  American  Baptists. 
Baptist  Missionary  Union.  The  organization  of 
an  independent  society  among  the  women,  the 
first  of  its  kind  among  Baptist  women  in  the 
world,  was  due  to  the  faith  and  courage  of  one 
young  woman.  Miss  H.  M.  Norris.  She  had 
applied  to  the  Missionary  Union  to  be  sent  out 
as  a  missionary  to  Burma,  but  was  told  that  there 
was  barely  enough  money  for  the  work  already 
undertaken  and  none  at  all  for  new  enterprises. 
Nothing  daunted,  she  determined  to  go  to  Burma, 
and  actually  engaged  passage  at  Halifax.  When 
just  about  to  sail,  she  was  visited  by  a  group 
of  ministers  who  urged  her  to  appeal  to  the 
women  of  the  churches  for  support.  The  next 
day  a  preliminary  organization  was  effected 
and  Miss  Norris  authorized  to  form  Women's 
Missionary  Aid  Societies.     The  first  was  organ- 


women. 


36     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

ized  June  18,  1870,  and  an  initial  subscription 
of  $108  made.  In  two  months  she  had  visited 
forty-one  churches,  organized  thirty-two  socie- 
ties, and  in  September  sailed  with  her  first  year's 
support  assured.  Out  of  this  early  organization 
has  grown  the  United  Baptist  Woman's  Mission- 
ary Union  of  the  Maritime  Provinces. 
Baptist  The  following  year,  1871,  in  obedience  to  the 

same  impulse,  the  Baptist  societies  auxiliary  to 
the  Missionary  Union  were  formed,  one  with 
headquarters  in  Boston  and  one  in  Chicago. 
The  appeals  which  led  to  the  formation  of  these 
societies  were  written  by  Mrs.  Carpenter  of 
Bassein,  Burma.  The  letters  gave  a  vivid  pic- 
ture of  the  missionary's  wife  sinking  under  the 
heavy  burden  of  insupportable  responsibilities 
that  were  continually  pressing  upon  her  from 
without,  until  health  gave  way,  and  life  itself 
was  in  danger.  She  felt  the  need  of  "  a  woman 
of  character  and  piety  to  take  charge  of  the  fe- 
male department  in  school."  In  response  to 
her  appeals  eleven  ladies  met  in  the  Clarendon 
Street  Church  in  Boston  to  discuss  the  formation 
of  a  Woman's  Missionary  Society.  The  follow- 
ing circular  was  adopted  and  sent  out  to  the 
churches  : 

"  In  view  of  the  very  little  which  the  American  Baptist 
Missionary  Union  has  been  able  to  do  thus  far  for  the 
education  of  women  at  its  various  stations  ;  of  the  insuflB- 
cient  funds  at  its  command  for  prosecuting  this  work  ;  of 
the  successful  beginning  which  it  has  made  of  it  at  several 
stations ;  of  the  desire  of  its  Executive  Committee  to  do 


Woman's  Wokk  for  (Jhildrkn. 


WHAT  OUR   MOTHERS  HAVE   TOLD    US      37 

everything  possible  for  the  elevation  of  women  as  well  as 
men  ;  of  its  readiness  to  emplo}'  Christian  women  so  far  as 
practicable  in  this  work  ;  of  the  urgent  need  of  more  la- 
borers at  all  of  our  stations  and  in  the  regions  beyond;  and 
of  our  duty  to  cooperate  more  fully  in  this  great  work, — 
we  believe  the  time  has  come  for  us  to  form  a  Society  or 
Societies  for  the  special  purpose  of  aiding  our  Missionary 
Union  to  do  more  for  the  heathen  and  Christian  women 
in  the  stations  under  its  care. 

"  All  ladies  who  are  interested  in  our  Foreign  ^Missions 
are  therefore  invited  to  meet  in  the  chapel  of  Clarendon 
Street  Baptist  Church,  on  Monday,  April  3,  at  three 
o'clock  p.  M.,  to  consider  the  propriety  of  forming  a  gen- 
eral Woman's  Missionary  Society." 

As  a  result  two  hundred  women  met  and 
formally  organized  the  society. 

It  will  be  impossible  to  follow  in  detail  the  Varieties  in 
organization  of  the  denominational  societies  ^on^°'^'^" 
that  appeared  in  rapid  succession  whose  names 
are  given  in  statistical  tables  below.  The  aim 
and  main  features  of  organization  were  similar, 
yet  they  exhibited  great  variety  in  details  of 
method  and  purpose.  The  Methodists  and 
Quakers  were  quite  independent  of  the  parent 
Boards,  the  Baptists  loosely,  the  Episcopalians 
closely,  auxiliary.  Most  of  them  worked  only 
for  foreign  missions,  but  the  Episcopal,  the  Lu- 
theran, and  the  Christian  combined  home  and 
foreign  work  under  the  same  society.  The 
Methodist  women  send  out  only  unmarried 
women,  many  of  the  Boards  support  such  mis- 
sionary wives  as  are  able  to  undertake  organized 


in  orgaiiiza- 
tioa. 


38     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

missionary  work,  and  the  Christian  Woman's 
Board  supports  more  men  than  women  on  its 
force. 
Similarities  Perhaps  the  most  distinctive  contribution  of 
the  Women's  Societies  to  missionary  adminis- 
tration has  been  their  demonstration  of  the 
power  of  small  offerings  frequently  collected 
from  large  numbers  of  contributors.  The 
women  started  in  as  humble  gleaners  to  pick  up 
such  scattering  sheaves  as  their  brethren  might 
have  left.  The  general  Boards  in  bugle-calls 
from  denominational  press,  or  in  silver-tongued 
appeals  from  the  pulpit,  asked  for  large  contri- 
butions. The  women  asked  for  two  cents  per 
week,  —  asked  it  from  door  to  door ;  devised 
mite  boxes,  formed  small  local  circles,  held 
frequent  meetings,  looked  after  children, 
old  women,  poor  people,  hand-picked  their 
own  fruit,  and  astonished  the  world  with  their 
success. 

They  developed,  too,  a  very  highly  specialized^ 
subdivided,  yet  exceedingly  simple  organization 
by  which  they  could  reach  from  headquarters 
to  the  remotest  auxiliary,  with  appeal  and  in- 
formation. 

They  devised  the  light  infantry  of  missionary 
literature.  Before  this,  missionary  literature 
had  moved  in  the  solid  phalanxes  of  the  annual 
report  or  the  heavy  artillery  of  the  anniversary 
sermons,  or  the  batteries  of  the  missionary  bi- 
ography.    But  the  women,  partly  because  they 


WHAT  OUR  MOTHERS   HAVE   TOLD    US      39 

were  poor  and  had  to  think  of  pennies,  and 
partly  because  they  were  appealing  to  women 
and  children,  began  to  get  out  little  leaflets, 
stories,  poems,  admirable  brief  summaries  that 
could  be  bought  for  a  few  cents,  or  even  given 
away,  and  with  them  they  assaulted  the  mis- 
sionary ignorance  of  the  churches.  These  light 
troops  could  penetrate  where  the  more  ponder- 
ous forces  never  would  be  moved,  and  so  began 
the  great  popularization  of  missions. 

QUESTIONS 

1.  Is  there  any  connection  between  the  organization 
of  the  women  in  1861  and  the  young  people's  missionary 
movements  of  a  generation  later  ? 

2.  Why  was  our  country  slower  than  England  to 
respond  to  the  appeal  of  Mr.  Abeel  ? 

3.  "What  have  been  the  chief  advantages  in  the  em- 
phasis of  two-cent-a-week  jilans  on  the  part  of  women's 
missionary  societies?     What  the  disadvantages? 

4.  Are  there  changes  in  circumstances  that  warrant 
a  different  emphasis? 

5.  In  what  lines  have  the  Women's  Missionary  Socie- 
ties shown  special  ability? 

6.  What  reflex  benefits  have  come  to  the  women 
through  these  organizations? 

7.  Can  you  trace  any  beneficial  influences  on  church 
life  in  this  country  ?  ^ 

8.  What  has  the  financial  growth  of  the  societies 
demonstrated  to  the  church  at  large? 

9.  What  are  the  most  valuable  contributions  made 
by  the  women's  societies  to  the  cause  of  Christ's  king- 
dom ? 


40      WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

10.  What  lessons  has  the  Woman's  Club  to  teach 
the  Woman's  Missionary  Society?  How  may  the  mis- 
sionary Society  help  the  Club? 

11.  Show  God's  providential  preparation  of  women 
for  this  wider  work  for  missions. 

BIBLE   READING 

(1)  A  Missionary  Maiden.     2  Kings  v.  1-19. 

(2)  The  Healing  Waters.     Ezekiel  xlvii.  1-12. 

(1)  The  missionary  impulse  natural.  —  A  known 
benefit  makes  us  anxious  to  communicate.  —  "We  are 
advertised  by  our  loving  friends."  Hence  if  there  is 
any  blessing  in  our  Christian  faith  we  must  pass  it  on 
to  those  who  need  it. 

(2)  Ezekiel's  vision  of  the  healing  waters  shows, — 
The  source  —  from  the  temple  of  God; 

The  small  beginning  —  a  tiny  trickle ; 

The  amazing  growth  —  waters  to  swim  in  ; 

The  life-giving  power  —  everything  liveth  wher- 
ever the  river  cometh ; 

A  wonderful  picture  of  the  Gospel  in  the  heart  of 
the  world. 

REFERENCE  BOOKS 

"Historical  Sketches  of  Woman's  Missionary  Socie- 
ties." Edited  and  published  by  Mrs.  L.  H.  Daggett, 
Boston,  Mass.  (difficult  to  obtain). 

Woman  in  Missions  :  Papers  and  Address  presented  at 
the  Women's  Congress  of  Missions  in  Chicago,  1893. 
American  Tract  Society. 

Jlistorical  sketches  are  printed  in  pamphlet  or  leaflet 
form  by  most  of  the  Women's  Boards,  giving  the  facts  in 
regard  to  their  own  organizations.  A  few  have  more  de- 
tailed histories  in  book  form,  such  are :  "  The  Story  of  the 
Years,"  Piatt  (accouiAt  of  the  Woman's  Society  in  Canar 
dian  Methodist  Churc\i) .     "  The  Story  of  the  Woman's 


WHAT  OUR  MOTHERS  HAVE   TOLD    US      41 

Foreign  Missionary  Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,"  Baker.  Hunt  &  Eaton,  1896.  A  large  volume 
giving  in  detail  story  of  early  years  and  interesting 
sketches  of  the  pioneers. 

"  Toward  the  Sun  Rising  :  a  History  of  Work  for  the 
Women  of  India  done  by  Women  from  England,  1852- 
1901."  London.  Marshall  Bros.  (^History  of  Zenana 
Bible  and  Medical  Mission.) 

"  Women  in  the  Mission  Field."  A.  R.  Buckland. 
Thomas  Whittaker,  1895. 

"Missions  of  Church  Missionary  Society."  Robert 
Clark.  New  Edition.  London,  Church  Miss.  Soc,  1904. 
(^Contains  account  of  the  Church  of  England  Zenana  Mis- 
sionary Society.) 


CHAPTER   II 

The  Wrongs  against  Womanhood  inXon-Christiax 
Lands  shown  to  rest  on  the  Direct  Teach 
iNGS  OF  the  Ethnic  Religions. 

Strength  of  the  Appeal  made  by  the  Women  of 
THE  Orient  to  the  Women  of  the  Occident. 


CHAPTER  II 

LADIES   LAST 

Womaii's  Life  in  the  Orient 

We  live  in  a  country  where  the  discussion  of  Subject  of 
"Woman's  Rights"  is  ever  to  the  front.  We  ^^^Pt^"^- 
are  to  study  lands  where  they  are  just  begin- 
ning to  recognize  woman's  wrongs  —  lands  where 
the  slogan  ''  Ladies  First "  is  consistently  and 
persistently  "Ladies  Last."  The  appeal  to  the 
women  of  England  and  America  was  winged  by 
the  recital  of  the  intolerable  injustices  and  op- 
pressions under  which  the  women  of  the  non- 
Christian  lands  spent  their  lives;  an  appeal  whose 
force  fifty  years  has  not  dulled.  For  while  there 
are  terrible  wrongs  against  women  in  our  own 
land,  there  is  this  difference  :  the  wrongs  of 
Hindu,  Chinese,  and  Moslem  women  are  but- 
tressed behind  the  sanctions  of  religion,  and  are 
indorsed  by  the  founders  of  their  faith ;  while 
in  our  own  land  these  wrongs  flaunt  themselves 
against  the  spirit  and  the  plain  provisions  of  our 
religion.  If  women  fully  recognized  the  eman- 
cipatory nature  of  the  pure  religion  of  Jesus, 
the  force  of  the  religious  missionary  arguments 
would  be  tremendously  strengthened.  It  is  the 
purpose  of  this  chapter  to  bring  into  relief  the 
45 


46    WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 


Tests  of 
status  of 
woman. 


Women  of 
the  Middle 
Kingdom. 


Confucian 
doctrine. 


disabilities  and  wrongs  of  heathen  women.  So 
far  as  possible  Oriental  authorities  will  be 
quoted.  The  emphasis  will  not  be  upon  excep- 
tional cases  of  horror,  but  upon  standards  of 
conduct  and  upon  national  custom. 

"  The  status  of  woman,"  says  Dr.  Dennis  in 
his  "Christian  Missions  and  Social  Progress,"  may 
be  indicated  by  the  estimate  put  upon  her,  by 
the  opportunity  given  her,  by  the  functions 
assigned  her,  by  the  privilege  accorded  her,  and 
by  the  service  expected  of  her."  Let  us  apply 
these  tests  as  we  study  the  status  of  women  in 
the  great  nations  of  the  East. 

The  Chinese  comprise  probably  one-fourth  of 
the  human  race,  —  a  powerful,  tenacious,  virile, 
patient,  industrious,  and  sagacious  people,  whom 
it  is  impossible  not  frankly  to  admire  for  their 
many  virtues.  When  all  is  told,  the  condition 
of  women  and  children  among  the  Chinese  has 
probably  fewer  evils  than  that  of  any  great  non- 
Christian  race.  Of  footbinding  and  infanticide 
it  is  not  necessary  to  speak  ;  since,  deplorable 
as  these  evils  are,  they  are  but  symptoms  of 
fundamental  errors  in  the  Chinese  conception 
of  womanhood  and  the  home. 

Without  doubt  the  mightiest  influence  in  China 
is  Confucius ;  and,  pure  though  many  of  his 
ethical  principles  were,  he  was  wofully  lacking 
in  his  appreciation  of  the  meaning  and  dignity 
of  womanhood.  Says  Dr.  Legge,  Professor  of 
Chinese  in  the  University  of  Oxford  :  "  Conf u- 


LADIES  LAST  47 

cius  saw  the  terrible  wretchedness  of  this  people 
and  set  himself  to  find  a  remedy.  Yet  to  the  one 
principal  cause  of  the  misery  of  the  masses, 
polygamy  and  the  low  social  condition  of  woman, 
he  gave  no  thought." 

The  doctrine  of  the  subordination  of  woman 
is,  perhaps,  given  in  brief  in  this  teaching  of 
Confucius  :  "Man  is  the  reproduction  of  heaven, 
and  is  supreme  in  all  things.  On  this  account, 
woman  can  determine  nothing  of  herself  and 
should  be  subject  to  the  three  obediences  —  to 
her  father,  husband,  and  son.  Her  business  is 
to  prepare  food  and  wine.  Beyond  the  thresh- 
old of  her  own  apartments  she  should  not  be 
known  for  evil  or  for  good.  If  her  husband 
dies  she  should  not  marry  again."  Confucius 
recognized  seven  reasons  which  justified  a  man 
in  divorcing  his  wife :  disobedience  to  father- 
in-law  or  mother-in-law  ;  failure  to  bear  chil- 
dren; lewdness;  jealousy;  leprosy  or  foul  disease; 
talking  too  much  or  disrespectful  prattling ;  theft. 

Next  to  Confucianism,  probably  Buddhism  has  Buddhist 
been  most  influential  in  shaping  Chinese  ideals.  '  ^^  ^" 
Buddhist  scriptures  allow  no  hope  of  immor- 
tality to  a  woman,  except  that,  for  the  greatest 
religious  devotion,  she  be  rewarded  in  some  fu- 
ture transmigration  by  being  born  a  man.  Her 
hopeless  inferiority  is  assumed  and  her  impurity 
taught. 

Working  out  these  standards  the  Chinese 
relegated  woman  to  a  place  of  obscurity  and  in- 


48     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

Customs  of     feriority.     She  is  not  desired  at  birth,  is  subject 
lifg  to  father,  husband,  and  son,  and  is  denied  the 

privileges  of  education.  To  destroy  girl  babies 
at  birth  was  formerly  exceedingly  common,  and 
not  regarded  as  a  crime  by  the  majority. 
Often  no  name,  simply  a  number,  is  given  to 
the  girl  baby,  and  a  father  in  counting  his 
family  mentions  only  sons.  Girls  are  simply 
sold  as  bondmaids  to  relieve  poverty;  and  a 
wife  may  legally  be  sold  or  rented  by  her  hus- 
band to  another  man  for  a  fixed  period.  The 
binding  of  the  feet  is  but  an  outward  and  visi- 
ble sign  of  the  crippled  lives  and  energies  of 
one-half  of  the  Chinese  people.  While,  strictly 
speaking,  there  can  be  but  one  legal  wife  in 
China,  the  law  sanctions,  and  custom  permits, 
secondary  wives  or  concubines,  and  forbids  the 
first  wife  to  object  to  her  lord's  bringing  such 
an  addition  to  the  family.  The  whole  force  of 
Chinese  conservatism  weighs  down  the  aspira- 
tions of  women  for  free  or  self-directed  life. 
One  indication  of  this  is  the  amazing  frequency 
of  suicide  among  Chinese  girls  and  women. 
Suicide.  There  is  no  better  authority  in  matters  Chi- 

nese than  Arthur  H.  Smith.  He  speaks  of 
suicide  among  the  Chinese  wives  and  daughters  as 
very  common,  epidemic  at  times,  and  gives  as  a 
reason  the  unhappy  status  of  women  in  married 
life.  He  instances  cases  in  which  young  girls 
band  themselves  together  to  commit  suicide 
rather  than  consent  to  marriage,  and  says,  "  The 


LADIES  LAST  49 

death   roll  of   suicides  is  the  most  convincing 
proof  of  the  woes  endured  by  Chinese  women." 

Japanese  women  have  relatively  more  fvee-  Dau.hieM 
dom  and  better  consideration  than  any  other  ^  "»?**"• 
Oriental  women;  but  even  here  the  same  low 
standards  and  belittling  ideas  are  woven  into 
the  texture  of  national  life.  By  training  and 
education  the  Japanese  girl  is  prepared  to  be 
exactly  what  her  pagan  master  desires  her  to 
be  fitted  for  — subordination,  obedience,  and  ser- 
vice. She,  too,  is  under  the  "three  obediences" 
—  to  father,  husband,  and,  if  a  widow,  to  oldest 
son.  To  such  length  is  this  carried  that  Japa- 
nese literature  celebrated  it  as  a  virtue  that  a 
woman  should  give  her  body  into  vice  to  satisfy 
the  debts  of  husband  or  father;  and  society 
looks  on  unmoved  while  an  ambitious  brother, 
to  get  an  education,  or  a  father  in  debt,  sells 
the  honor  of  sister  or  daughter  even  as  beasts  are 
sold.  The  marriage  tie  is  so  easily  dissolved 
that  even  so  late  as  1897  there  were  more  than 
one  hundred  thousand  divorces  to  three  hun- 
dred and  fifty  thousand  marriages. 

If  the  wife  be  childless  it  was  a  common 
custom  to  advertise  for  and  hire  a  young 
woman  to  come  into  the  house,  keep  her  until 
her  baby  was  born  and  weaned,  and  then  dis- 
miss her.  The  terrible  prevalence  of  immoral- 
ity, with  state-regulated  vice,  the  current  ob- 
scenity of  thought,  word,  and  deed,  in  Japan, 
even  so  late  as  1870,  are  things  that  are  diffi- 


50     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

cult  to  believe  to-day,  though  amply  established 
by  eye-witnesses.  And  yet  with  all  the  marvel- 
lous improvements  in  the  moral  climate,  it  still 
remains  true  that  Japan's  deepest  problem  has 
to  do  with  its  failure  to  give  women  their  right- 
ful place  of  purity  and  power. 

It  was  not  until  1889  that  even  the  Empress 
received  any  sort  of  recognition  as  in  any  way 
entitled  to  rank  or  dignity  on  her  own  account. 
When  the  Emperor  rode  beside  her  in  an  open 
carriage  at  the  time  of  the  promulgation  of  the 
Constitution,  he  took  a  revolutionary  step. 
The  marriage  of  the  Crown  Prince  also  ac- 
knowledged the  sanctity  of  marriage  as  had 
never  been  done  before. 

The  following  quotation  from  a  friendly  and 
authoritative  source  illustrates  several  phases 
of  the  matter: 

"  To  become  a  wife  is  to  be  a  daughter-in-law,  which 
name  is  too  often  synonymous  with  drudge  or  slave.  Life 
grows  narrower,  burdens  increase,  until  existence  seems 
intolerable,  and  reaches  perilously  near  to  the  suicide 
point.  The  woman  over  thirty  is  usually  the  weary,  dis- 
heartened woman.  The  hideousness  of  Japanese  hags, 
and  the  multitude  of  them  in  villages,  are  sights  that 
have,  over  and  over  again,  given  the  writer  daylight 
visions  like  nightmares.  The  list  of  female  suicides  in 
Japan  is  a  terribly  long  one,  and  in  popular  art  as  in 
Hokusias,  for  example,  we  have  the  typical  figure  of  a 
bedraggled  ghost  rising  from  the  well,  in  which  it  is  the 
woman's  fad  to  drown  herself,  though  other  ways  of  exit 
from  flesh  and  blood  are  too  sadly  familiar." 

—  William  Elliot  Griffis. 


LADIES  LAST  51 

In  Korea  the  conditions  are  like  those  in  Korea. 
China  and  Japan,  only  more  so.  The  Korean 
gentleman  has  a  profound  contempt  for  women. 
He  speaks  of  her  generally  as  Kechip  (female)  ; 
refers  to  her  as  JCosiki,  "  what-you-may-call- 
her "  ;  or  possibly  Ken,  "she."  Yet  he  is 
thorouglily  under  petticoat  government.  These 
ignorant,  superstitious  little  Korean  women  with 
their  everlasting  paddling  of  their  lord's  white 
linen  garments,  their  unceasing  drudgery,  their 
seclusion  in  the  dark,  unsanitary  anpang  or 
women's  apartments,  are  the  real  power  behind 
the  throne.  When  they  enjoy  life  it  would  be 
hard  to  say ;  for  the  life  of  the  ordinary  Korean 
woman  is  one  long  burden-bearing  for  her  in- 
dolent lord.  The  girl  marries  early,  goes  to  an 
absolutely  unknown  husband,  in  a  strange 
family,  is  immured  in  low,  dark  rooms,  has  no 
education,  no  books,  no  music,  no  entertainment, 
is  the  sl?""3  of  her  mother-in-law.  The  lordly 
person  who  dwells  in  the  sarang  (men's  apart- 
ment) seldom  deigns  to  speak  of  this  patient 
drudge  of  the  inner  dej^artment,  relegating  her 
to  the  background  witli  other  humble  necessities 
in  this  topsy-turvy  world. 

Of  the  condition  of  women  and  children  in  Savage 
pagan  and  savage  tribes  it  is  unnecessary  to 
speak.  Where  life  has  not  changed  beyond  the 
realm  of  physical  force,  the  women  and  children 
are  bound  to  bear  the  heavy  end  of  the  intoler- 
able burdens  of   savagery.     Of   slave  mothers 


women. 


52     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 


Moslem 
theory. 


Moslem 
practice. 


and  strangled  widows,  of  burnings,  mutilations, 
witchcraft,  of  hideous  cruelties  and  brutish 
outrage  that  make  up  the  picture  of  women's 
life  in  Africa  and  the  dark  islands  of  the  sea,  it 
is  impossible  to  write  without  seeming  wilfully 
to  exaggerate  horrors. 

Turning  to  Moslem  lands,  we  find  a  hundred 
million  women  living  beneath  the  Crescent. 
Here,  too,  it  is  but  just  to  confine  our  survey  to 
Moslem  ideals  and  not  to  instances  of  marked 
injustice  or  evil.  The  darkest  blot  upon  the 
prophet  Mohammed  is  the  low  appreciation  of 
womanhood  that  led  him  to  embed  in  the  Koran 
itself  legislation  that  affronts  the  intellect  and 
heart  of  womanhood.  In  the  fourth  Surah  of 
the  Koran  we  read  :  "  Men  shall  have  preemi- 
nence over  women  because  of  the  advantages  in 
which  God  has  caused  the  one  to  excel  the  other, 
and  for  that  which  they  expend  of  their  sub- 
stance in  maintaining  their  wives.  The  honest 
women  are  obedient,  careful,  in  the  absence  of 
their  husbands,  for  that  God  preserveth  them 
by  committing  them  to  the  care  and  protection 
of  the  men.  But  those  whose  perverseness  ye 
shall  be  apprehensive  of,  rebuke,  and  remove 
them  into  separate  apartments,  and  chastise 
them." 

It  is  easy  to  see  how  teachings  like  these 
would  work  out  into  practice  among  a  people 
who  regard  every  word  of  the  Koran  as  inspired, 
and  who  follow  faithfully  all   the   duties  laid 


Mrs.  William  Butler. 


LADIES  LAST  53 

down  by  their  religion.  The  injunctions  of  the 
Koran,  the  practices  of  Mohammed,  and  the 
comments  of  the  great  theologians  all  agree  to 
debase  the  status  of  women.  While  customs 
differ  in  various  Moslem  lands,  certain  features 
are  repeated  over  and  over.  All  women,  ex- 
cept the  very  poor,  are  secluded  behind  barred 
windows  in  the  harem,  and  are  never  seen  in 
public  unveiled  ;  divorce  is  common  and  easy ; 
polygamy  is  not  forbidden  ;  education  is  given 
to  boys  and  denied  to  girls;  and  the  participa- 
tions of  women  in  worship  at  the  mosques  is 
exceptional  and  infrequent. 

In  Egypt  divorce  is  shockingly  frequent ; 
competent  authorities  fix  the  percentage  of 
marriages  which  end  in  divorce  as  not  lower 
than  fifty,  possibly  as  high  as  eighty  per  cent. 
A  woman  of  twenty  may  be  living  with  her 
third  husband.  A  young  man  has  no  oppor- 
tunity to  know  the  one  he  is  to  marry,  and  so 
until  suited  has  no  hesitation  in  divorcing  her. 
An  instance  is  related  in  "  Our  Moslem  Sisters  " 
of  one  who  had  married  and  divorced  in  quick 
succession  six  times.  The  seventh  wife,  a  re- 
fined and  beautiful  woman,  he  liked  ;  but  she 
lived  in  constant  terror  lest  she,  too,  might  be 
told  to  go  to  her  father's  house. 

In  Palestine  divorce  is  easy,  inexpensive, 
and  prevalent.  To  have  had  ten  or  eleven 
wives  is  not  at  all  uncommon.  If  a  woman  has 
no  child,  that  is  cause  enough  for  sending  her 


64     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

back  to  lier  family.  If  possible,  anotlier  mar- 
riage is  at  once  arranged  for  her  ;  should  she 
again  be  childless,  her  case  is  pitiful.  Again 
and  again  she  becomes  a  wife,  each  time  under 
less  favorable  circumstances  ;  to  a  crip[)le,  per- 
haps, or  a  blind  man,  or  an  invalid,  who  may 
make  lier  family  pay  well  to  marry  her  oif.  In 
Persia  even  worse  conditions  are  common. 
There,  added  to  universal  divorce,  is  trial  or 
temporary  marriage.  For  so  much  a  girl  is  sold, 
or  a  woman  contracts  to  serve  as  temporary 
wife.  She  suffers  no  disgrace  in  the  eyes  of 
the  community,  but  at  the  end  of  the  time  re- 
ceives her  pay.  The  sorest  evil  of  the  divorce 
customs  that  disgrace  INIoslem  lands  is  thtft  the 
■wife  who  is  sent  away  must  leave  her  children 
to  be  brought  up  by  the  next  wife ;  hence 
women  will  endure  almost  any  ill  treatment 
rather  than  face  such  a  risk. 
Moslem  A  book  luis  been  recently  published  by  Kasim 

testimony,  j^^^eem,  a  learned  Moslem  jurist  of  Cairo,  in 
which  the  evil  conditions  of  women's  lives 
are  laid  bare  by  one  who  cannot  be  accused  of 
Christian  prejudice.      He  says  : 

"  Man  is  the  absolute  master,  and  woman  the  slave. 
She  is  the  object  of  his  sensual  pleasures,  a  toy,  as  it  were, 
with  which  he  plays  whenever  and  however  he  pleases. 
Knowledge  is  his,  ignorance  is  hers.  The  firmament 
and  the  light  are  his,  darkness  and  the  dungeon  are  hers. 
His  is  to  command,  hers  is  to  blindly  obey.  His  is 
everything  that  is,  and  she  is  an  insignificant  part  of 
that  everything. 


LADIES   LAST  55 

"  Ask  those  that  are  married  if  they  are  loved  by  their 
wives,  and  they  will  answer  in  the  affirmative.  The 
truth,  however,  is  the  reverse.  I  have  personally  investi- 
gated the  conditions  of  a  number  of  families  that  are 
supposed  to  be  living  in  harmony,  peace,  and  love,  and  I 
have  not  found  one  husband  who  truly  loves  liis  wife, 
or  one  wife  who  evinced  a  sincere  affection  for  her 
husband.  This  outward  appearance  of  peace  and  har- 
mony—  this  thin  veneering  —  only  means  one  of  three 
things,  namely ;  either  the  husband  is  made  callous  and 
nonchalant  by  incessant  strife,  and  has  finally  determined 
to  let  things  take  their  course  ;  or  the  wife  allows  herself 
to  be  utilized  as  an  ordinary  chattel  without  uttering  a  pro- 
test ;  or  both  parties  are  ignorant  and  do  not  appreciate  the 
true  value  of  life." 

A  remarkable  book  appeared  two  years  ago,  Missionary 
written  by  women  teachers,  physicians,  and  testimony, 
evangelists,  who  had  for  years  lived  and  worked 
among  Moslem  women.  Each  wrote  a  chapter 
about  conditions  as  she  knew  them  at  first  hand, 
in  her  daily  experience.  These  expert  testi- 
monies came  from  twenty-five  different  observ- 
ers in  seventeen  different  countries.  In  their 
jDreface  they  declare  that  there  has  been  no 
communication  between  the  writers,  that  no  in- 
cident is  given  without  personal  knowledge, 
that  they  speak  out  of  an  experience  of  from 
ten  to  twenty  years.  The  force  of  such  facts 
as  they  marshal,  it  is  hard  to  break  down. 
These  same  missionaries  met  in  council  in  1906 
at  Cairo,  sent  out  an  appeal  to  the  women  in 
Christendom,  from  which  the  following  is 
taken: 


56     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

"  While  we  have  heard  with  deep  thankfulness  of  many 
signs  of  God's  blessing  on  the  efforts  already  put  forth, 
yet  we  have  been  appalled  at  the  reports  that  have  been 
sent  into  the  conference  from  all  parts  of  the  Moslem 
world,  showing  us  only  too  plainly  that  as  yet  but  a  fringe 
of  this  great  work  has  been  touched. 

"The  same  story  has  come  from  India,  Persia,  Arabia, 
Africa,  and  other  Mohammedan  lands,  making  evident 
that  the  condition  of  women  under  Islam  is  everywhere 
the  same  ;  and  that  there  is  no  hope  of  effectually  remedy- 
ing spiritual,  moral,  and  physical  ills  which  they  suffer,  ex- 
cept to  take  them  the  message  of  the  Saviour ;  and  that 
there  is  no  chance  of  their  hearing  unless  we  give  our- 
selves to  the  work. 

"  There  is  something  very  pathetic  in  watching  the  fail- 
ing brain  power  of  the  girls.  Until  fourteen  or  fifteen 
years  they  are  bright,  quick  at  learning ;  but  then  it  is 
like  a  flower  closing,  so  far  as  mental  effort  goes,  and  soon 
there  is  a  complaint,  "  I  cannot  get  hold  of  it,  it  goes 
from  rae." 

"  Once  grown  up,  it  is  painful  to  see  the  labor  with 
■which  they  learn  even  the  alphabet.  Imagination,  per- 
ception, poetry,  remain,  and  resourcefulness  for  good  and 
evil,  but  apart  from  God's  grace,  solid  brain  power  dies. 
Probably  in  the  unexplored  question  of  heredity  lies  the 
clew ;  for  at  that  age,  for  generations,  the  sorrows  and 
cares  of  married  life  have  come  and  stopped  mind  de- 
velopment, till  the  brain  has  lost  its  power  of  expansion 
as  womanhood  comes  on.  Life  is  often  over  in  more 
senses  than  one  before  they  are  twenty." 

TheTTomen         It  is  ill  the  ancient  land  of  India  that  we  see 
"       **'         the  deepest  degradation  of  womanhood,  a  deg- 
radation   that   inheres    in    the   very    religious 
standards  of   the  people.     Enforced  seclusion, 


LADIES  LAST  57 

child  marriage,  perpetual  widowhood,  may  be 
said  to  characterize  the  social  life  of  the  women 
of  India.  Every  one  of  these  disabilities  and 
evils  rests  on  positive  teaching  of  the  most 
venerated  scriptures.  Let  us  take  them  in  the 
order  specified. 

It  is  the  custom  for  all  those,  except  the  Seclusion, 
poorest  outcasts,  to  seclude  their  women  in 
parts  of  the  household  to  which  no  man,  except 
those  of  the  immediate  family,  is  ever  allowed 
to  come.  From  marriage  to  death  the  most 
highly  gifted,  most  respected,  most  cultivated 
Avomen  of  India  pass  their  lives  in  jail-like 
seclusion.  This  custom  of  immuring  their 
women  in  prison-like  confinement  is  often  laid  to 
the  outrages  perpetrated  by  the  Mohammedan 
invaders  ;  but  nine  hundred  years  before  Christ, 
in  the  most  sacred  code  of  Hinduism,  the  code  of 
Manu,  it  was  enacted  :  "  A  woman  is  not  allowed 
to  go  out  of  the  house  without  the  consent  of  her 
husband  ;  she  may  not  laugh  without  a  veil 
over  her  face  or  look  out  of  a  door  or  a  window." 

The  deepest  blot  upon  the  people  of  India  is  child 
that  all  but  universal  custom  of  child  marriage,   carnage, 
by  which  babes  of  a  dozen  years  are  still  given 
in  marriage  to  men  of  fifty.     This  custom,  in 
all  its  revolting  ugliness,  is  based  upon  religious 
sanctions  of  the  highest  authority. 

Listen  again  to  the  venerated  law  of  Manu 
as  revered  by  the  Hindus  as  are  the  Ten  Com- 
mandments in  Christian  countries. 


58     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

"  A  man  of  thirty  years  shall  marry  a  maiden  of  twelve 
years  who  pleases  him,  or  a  man  of  twenty -four  a  girl  of 
eight  years  of  age."     Manu  IX.,  9^1. 

"  Neither  by  sale  nor  by  repudiation  is  a  wife  released 
from  her  husband ;  such  we  know  to  be  the  law  which  the 
Lord  of  creatures  made  of  old."    Manu  IX.,  46. 

"  It  is  the  nature  of  women  to  seduce  men  in  this  world  ; 
for  that  reason  the  wise  are  never  unguarded  in  the  pres- 
ence of  females." 

"  For  women  are  able  to  lead  astray  in  this  world  not 
only  a  fool,  but  even  a  learned  man,  and  to  make  him  a 
slave  of  desire  and  anger."     Manu  XI.,  213-214. 

Manu  assigns  to  women  love  of  ornament, 
impure  desires,  wrath,  dishonesty,  malice,  and 
bad  conduct.     He  further  legislates  : 

"  Day  and  night  the  women  must  be  kept  in  depend- 
ence by  the  males  of  their  families,  and  if  they  attach 
themselves  to  sensual  enjoyments  they  must  be  kept 
under  one's  control."     Manu  IX.,  2, 

"  For  women  no  sacramental  rite  is  performed  with 
the  sacred  texts,  thus  the  law  is  settled  ;  women  who  are 
destitute  of  strength  and  destitute  of  the  knowledge  of 
Vedic  texts  are  as  impure  as  falsehood  itself,  that  is  a 
fixed  rule."     Manu  IX.,  14-18. 

"  Though  destitute  of  virtue  or  seeking  pkasure  else- 
where, or  devoid  of  good  qualities,  yet  a  husband  must 
be  constantly  worshipped  as  a  god  by  a  faithful  wife." 

"  In  childhood  a  female  must  be  subject  to  her  father, 
in  youth  to  her  husband,  when  her  lord  is  dead  to  her 
sons  ;  a  woman  must  never  be  independent." 

"  If  a  daughter  is  married  at  the  age  of  six,  the  father 
is  certain  to  ascend  to  the  highest  heaven.  If  the  daughter 
is  not  married  before  seven,  the  father  will  only  reach 
the   second  heaven.      If   the   daughter   is   not   married 


LADIES  LAST  59 

until  the  age  of  ten,  the  father  can  only  attain  the  lowest 
place  assigned  the  blest.  If  a  g-irl  is  not  married  luuil 
she  is  eleven  years  of  age,  all  her  progenitors  for  six 
generations  will  suffer  pains  and  penalties."  Manu  V., 
147-1 5G.     In  part. 

"  Let  the  wife  who  wishes  to  perform  sacred  oblations 
wash  the  feet  of  her  husband  and  drink  the  water,  for 
the  husband  is  to  the  wife  greater  than  Vishnu." 

Perhaps  no  one  is  more  deeply  versed  in  the  Ramabai's 
Vedas  and  Shastras  than  Ramabai.  She  has  a  ^'^™™^'y- 
profound  knowledge  of  Sanskrit,  and  knows 
intimately  both  the  early  and  the  later  scrip- 
tures. She  thus  sums  up  the  teachings  of  the 
purer  writings,  antedating  by  at  least  six  cen- 
turies the  Christian  era  : 

"  Those  who  diligently  and  impartially  read  Sanskrit 
literature,  in  the  original,  cannot  fail  to  recognize  the 
lawgiver,  Manu,  as  one  of  those  hundreds  wlio  have  done 
their  best  to  make  woman  a  hateful  being  in  the  world's 
eye.  To  employ  her  in  housekeeping  and  kindred  occu- 
pations is  thought  to  be  the  only  means  of  keeping  her 
out  of  mischief,  the  blessed  enjoyment  of  literary  culture 
being  denied  her.  She  is  forbidden  to  read  the  sacred 
scriptures,  she  has  no  right  to  pronounce  a  single  syllable 
out  of  them,  she  is  never  to  be  trusted.  Matters  of  im- 
portance are  never  to  be  committed  to  her. 

"  I  can  say  honestly  and  truthfully  that  I  have  never 
read  any  sacred  book  in  Sanskrit  literature  without 
meetincc  this  hateful  sentiment  about  women. 


"  Religion  as  the  word  is  understood  has  two  distinct 
natures  in  the  Hindu  law,  the  masculine  and  the  femi- 
nine. The  masculine  religion  has  its  own  peculiar  duties, 
privileges,  and  honors.     The  feminine  religion  also  has 


60     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

its  peculiarities.  The  sum  and  substance  of  the  latter 
may  be  given  in  a  few  words:  To  look  upon  her  hus- 
band as  a  god,  to  hope  for  salvation  only  through  him,  to 
be  obedient  to  him  in  all  things,  never  to  court  indepen- 
dence, never  to  do  anything  but  that  which  is  approved 
by  law  and  custom. "  —  "  The  High  Caste  Hindu  Woman," 
pp.  81-84. 

It  is  important  to  get  this  background  of 
religious  sanction  before  surveying  the  facts  in 
regard  to  marriage  in  India.  If  the  customs 
were  contrary  to  national  religious  standards, 
and  due  only  to  a  low  degree  of  civilization, 
they  might  be  in  process  of  mending  from 
within  ;  but  if  the  religion  itself  debases 
womanhood,  the  only  hope  is  in  a  new  and 
purer  faith.  What  are  the  facts  ? 
Legal  Law  is  usually  supposed  to  register  a  standard 

as  high  as  the  community  will  uphold.  For- 
merly there  was  no  age  below  which  a  child 
was  protected  from  legalized  lust.  In  1893  the 
Maharajah  of  Mysore,  one  of  the  most  en- 
lightened of  the  native  rulers,  caused  to  be  en- 
acted as  reform  and  advanced  legislation  the 
provisions  that  a  girl  under  eight  years  of  age 
should  be  regarded  as  an  infant,  and  a  boy 
under  fourteen  in  the  same  light,  and  any 
person  who  caused,  aided,  or  abetted  the  mar- 
riage of  either  of  these  should  be  punished  with 
imprisonment  for  six  months.  A  man  over 
fifty  who  married  a  girl  under  fourteen  was 
liable  to  be  punished  with  imprisonment  for 
two  years.     This  legislation  affecting  a  popu- 


LADIES  LAST  61 

lation  of  five  millions,  created  a  "  profound  and 
startling  impression  throughout  India." 

In  a  bill  introduced  into  the  legislative  coun- 
cil of  Madras  in  1898,  the  age  of  ten  years  was 
named  as  the  limit  before  which  a  marriage 
must  not  be  consummated.  (Consummated, 
mind  you,  not  contracted.) 

In  1891  the  British  government  passed  laws 
making  it  a  crime  to  consummate  the  marriage 
with  a  woman  child  under  twelve  years  of  age. 
This  law  produced  the  greatest  excitement,  and 
almost  caused  rioting  on  the  part  of  venerable 
Hindus  whose  rights  were  infringed  so  cruelly. 

"  Throughout  India,"  says  Ramabai,  "  widow-  Enforced 
hood  is  regarded  as  the  punishment  for  a  hor-  ^^  °^  '^^ 
rible  crime  or  crimes  committed  by  a  woman  in 
her  former  existence  upon  earth.  Disobedience 
or  disloyalty  to  the  husband  or  murdering  him 
in  this  earlier  existence  are  the  chief  crimes 
punished  in  the  present  birth  by  widowhood." 
On  this  superstitious  belief  rest  many  of  the 
cruelties  practised  upon  the  woman  or  child  so 
unfortunate  as  to  lose  her  husband.  Because 
she  is  accursed  she  is  stripped  of  her  ornaments, 
her  hair  shaved,  her  food  restricted  to  one  scant 
meal  a  day.  Twice  in  the  month  she  must  go 
without  food  or  water  for  forty -eight  hours. 
Only  one  coarse  white  garment  is  allowed  her, 
she  is  debarred  from  all  family  feasts,  shunned, 
hated,  made  the  drudge  and  the  slave.  If  young, 
she  is   closely  guarded  and  treated  with   sus- 


62     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

picion.  A  man  thinks  it  unlucky  to  see  a  widow 
before  starting  on  a  journey.  She  may  not  even 
associate  freely  with  her  female  friends. 

"  Iler  life  then,  destitute  as  it  is  of  the  least  literary 
knowledge,  void  of  all  hope,  empty  of  every  pleasure  and 
social  advantage,  becomes  intolerable,  a  curse  to  herself 
and  to  society  at  large.  It  is  not  au  uncommon  thing  for 
a  young  widow  without  occupation  that  may  satisfy  mind 
and  heart,  and  unable  longer  to  endure  tlie  slights  and 
suspicions  to  which  she  is  perpetually  subjected,  to  escape 
from  her  prison-house.  But  when  she  gets  from  it,  where 
shall  she  go  ?  No  respectable  family  even  of  a  lower  caste 
•will  have  her  for  a  servant.  She  is  completely  ignorant 
of  any  art  by  which  she  can  make  an  honest  living.  She 
has  nothing  but  the  single  garment  she  has  upon  her  per- 
son. Starvation  and  death  stare  her  in  the  face.  The 
only  alternative  before  her  is  either  to  commit  suicide,  or, 
worse  still,  accept  a  life  of  shame."  —  Ramabai. 

Not  only  is  widowhood  a  state  of  degradation 
and  suffering,  but  tliere  is  no  hope  of  relief.  A 
child  of  three,  widowed  by  the  death  of  her  aged 
husband,  is  condemned  to  life-long  widowhood, 
since  the  remarriage  of  widows  is  absolutely  ab- 
horrent to  all  Hindu  ideas.  So  fixed  is  this  idea 
in  the  very  structure  of  society  that,  after  years 
of  agitation  that  provoked  the  bitterest  resent- 
ment on  the  part  of  even  educated  Hindus,  the 
entire  number  of  marriages  of  widows  in  all 
India  is  less  than  two  hundred. 

In  1901  there  were  in  India  25,891,936  wid- 
ows ;  of  these,  391,147  were  under  fifteen  years 
of  age ;  14,000  were  under  four  years  of  age. 


LADIES   LAST  63 

As  still  further  showing  the  prevalence  of  Kuiinism. 
child  marriage,  the  speech  of  Babu  Dinanath 
Gangoli,  delivered  at  the  sixth  social  Confer- 
ence at  Allahabad  in  1892  may  be  quoted.  He 
had  been  speaking  in  regard  to  the  Kulin  Brah- 
mans,  the  highest  caste ;  girls  in  these  families, 
it  seems,  must  not  marry  into  a  lower  caste,  and 
as  the  supply  of  Kulin  bridegrooms  is  limited, 
and  a  father  is  accursed  who  has  not  given  his 
daughter  in  marriage  before  she  is  twelve,  those 
who  have  not  money  to  secure  a  young  bride- 
groom are  compelled  to  give  their  daughters  to 
those  who  make  a  living  by  being  husbands. 
Thus  a  child  of  ten  may  be  given  as  the  fiftieth 
wife  to  a  man  of  fifty  or  sixty.  To  quote  from 
Babu  Gongoli : 

"  It  has  been  advanced  in  certain  quarters  that  Kuiin- 
ism is  almost  extinct,  and  that  it  is  useless  to  take  trouble 
about  it.  Gentlemen,  some  time  ago  I  myself  did  not 
think  much  about  it,  but  three  years  ago,  coming  to  know 
the  case  of  a  Kulin  -svho  had  left  upwards  of  one  hundred 
widows  at  his  death,  I  was  led  to  make  inquiries  about 
polygamous  marriages." 

He  then  gives  statistics  collected  from  460 
villages  showing  618  bigamists  and  520  polyga- 
mists.     Of  these  last 

180  have  each  3  wives 

98  have  each  4  wives 

54  have  each  5  wives 

35  have  each  6  wives 

26  have  each  7  wives 


64      WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

20  have  each  8  wives 
10  have  each  9  wives 
19  have  eacli  10  wives 

and  so  on  down  the  hideous  list,  until  we  find 
that  four  have  twenty-five,  and  four  thirty,  and 
one  or  more  have  up  to  one  hundred  wives  each. 
He  continues: 

"  Among  the  bigamists  and  polygamists  the  following 
deserve  special  notice :  A  boy  of  twelve  years  has  two 
wives,  one  boy  of  sixteen  years  has  seven  wives,  two  young 
men  of  twenty  years  have  eight  wives  each ;  one  of  thirty- 
seven  has  thirty-five  wives — educated  men  and  men  of 
position  also  figure  in  this  ILst." 

The  prominent  Hindu  wlio  made  this  speech 
was  not  himself  a  Christian,  but  one  of  a  hand- 
ful of  reformers  fighting  desperately  against  the 
immemorial  customs  and  standards  of  their  peo- 
ple. It  ought  to  be  remembered  that  every  one 
of  these  wives  when  widowed,  whether  a  babe 
of  less  than  a  year,  a  maiden,  or  a  woman  grown, 
is  condemned  to  the  same  life  of  suffering  and 
ignominy. 
Other  evils.  To  the  three  characteristic  features  of  woman's 
life  and  position :  seclusion,  child  marriage,  en- 
forced widowhood,  many  others  might  be  added. 
As  a  logical  outcome  of  the  doctrines  advanced 
in  their  sacred  scriptures,  women  are  denied 
education.  To-day,  after  a  century  of  educa- 
tional effort,  not  one  per  cent  of  the  women  of 
India  are  able  to  read  and  write,  and  that  small 
fraction  is  almost  wholly  Christian.     Perhaps 


LADIES  LAST  65 

the   most   terrible    affront  to  womanhood  that 
Brahmanism    affords  is  what  the  great  Hindu 
teacher  jMazoomdar  called  "  consecrated  prosti- 
tution."    In  all  the  great  temples  to  which  pil- 
grims resort    as   holy    shrines   there   are   kept 
throngs  of  temple  girls.     These  girls  are  con- 
secrated to  the  service  of  the  god  in  childhood; 
are  married  to  him,  and  by  their  vow  are  obliged 
to  prostitute  themselves  to  pilgrims  and  priests. 
These  girls  are  beautifully  dressed,  loaded  with 
jewels,  trained  in  all  the  arts  that  attract,  and 
bring  great  revenues  into  the  temple  treasury. 
They  are  taught  by  the  priests  that  they  accu- 
mulate  stores  of  blessing  to  themselves  for  a 
future  state.     Being  married  to  the  god,  they 
can  never  be  widowed,  and  these  religious  pros- 
titutes are  "  so  highly  respectable  in  the  Hindu 
society  that  no  wedding  is  celebrated  without 
their  presence." 

Into  the  unspeakable  foulness  of  these  temples  Religious 
and   the    outrages    there    committed  on  young  o^'scemty. 
girls  it  is  impossible  to  follow.     The  degrada- 
tion of  womanhood  by  the  very  religion  of  India 
is  so   great   that   the  British   government   ex- 
cluded from  the  mails  as  obscene  matter  trans- 
lations   of    some    of    the    sacred   scriptures    of 
Hinduism.     A  horrible  humor  seems  to  attach 
to  the  following  clause  in  the  penal  code  against 
obscenity:   "  This  section  shall  not  be  construed 
to  extend  to  any  representation  sculptured,  en- 
graved, printed,  or  otherwise  represented  on  or 


66     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

in  any  temple,  or  to  any  car  used  for  the  con- 
veyance of  idols  or  kept  or  used  for  any  reli- 
gious purpose. "  "  Religious  purpose!  "  sheltered 
behind  an  exception  permitting  to  it  an  obscen- 
ity denied  elsewhere.      "  Religious  purpose  .'" 

This  connection  of  religion  with  immorality 
is  one  of  the  most  cruel  wrongs  against  the 
womanhood  of  India.  From  babyhood  the  grow- 
ing boy  has  inextricably  bound  up  with  his 
deepest  religious  emotions  impure  ideas  of  sex. 
In  every  village  of  any  size  are  found  the  tem- 
ple cars,  erected  at  great  expense  by  temple 
authorities,  and  used  upon  festal  occasions  to 
draw  the  gods  through  the  village.  These  cars 
thaifc  stand  where  the  village  children  pla}^  daily 
under  their  shadow  are  defiled  by  obscene  carv- 
ings too  gross  to  be  described.  Sakthi  worship 
lends  itself  definitely  to  sexual  excess ;  the 
Vaishnava  cult  of  Hinduism  is  known  throughout 
the  land  for  its  orgies  of  impurity;  in  Bengal, 
where  the  worship  of  Durgai,  the  wife  of  Siva, 
is  the  popular  rite,  the  natives  are  ashamed  of 
the  licentiousness  of  their  great  religious  festi- 
vals. 
General  In  this  brief  summary  of  woman's  life  under 

the  ethnic  religions,  we  find  that  she  is  nowhere 
accepted  as  man's  equal,  nowhere  free,  nowhere 
educated,  nowhere  is  her  right  to  her  person 
recognized.  The  brave  words  of  James  Russell 
Lowell,  spoken  at  a  great  banquet  in  London 
after  some  one  had  alluded  sneeringly  to  Chris- 


conditions. 


LADIES  LAST  67 

tianity,  may  well  close  this  survey  of  the  sub- 
ject • 

"  When  the  keen  scrutiny  of  sceptics  has  found  a  place 
on  this  planet  where  a  decent  man  may  live  in  decency, 
comfort,  and  security,  supporting  and  educating  his  chil- 
dren unspoiled  and  unpolluted,  a  place  where  age  is  rev- 
erenced, infancy  protected,  womanhood  honored,  and 
human  life  held  in  due  regard,  —  when  sceptics  can  find 
such  a  place  ten  miles  square  on  this  globe,  where  the 
Gospel  of  Christ  has  not  gone  before  and  cleared  the  way 
and  laid  the  foundations  that  made  decency  and  security 
possible,  it  will  then  be  in  order  for  these  sceptical  literati 
to  move  thither  and  there  ventilate  their  views.  But  so 
long  as  these  men  are  dependent  on  the  very  religion 
which  they  discard  for  every  privilege  they  enjoy,  they 
may  well  hesitate  to  rob  the  Christian  of  his  hope  and 
humanity  of  its  faith  in  that  Saviour  who  alone  has  given 
to  men  that  hope  of  Eternal  Life  which  makes  life  toler- 
able and  society  possible,  and  robs  death  of  its  terrors  and 
the  grave  of  its  gloom." 

Such  was  the  condition  of  womanhood  in  the  Objections 
vast  non-Christian  world  confronting  the  women  °  missions, 
of  Christendom,  when  these  Women's  ^Missionary 
Societies  were  organized.  It  was  at  once  a  chal- 
lenge and  an  appeal,  the  most  moving  and  power- 
ful. Neither  challenge  nor  appeal  has  weakened 
in  the  years  that  have  elapsed.  Perhaps  to-day 
we  see  more  clearly  than  was  seen  then  the  ne- 
cessity of  raising  woman  if  we  are  to  raise  the 
race;  know  more  fully  than  they  the  horrors  of 
the  servile  life  in  which  the  majority  of  women 
the  Avorld  over  are  forced  to  live.  Yet  there  are 
certain    specious   arguments   that   need   to   be 


08    \vi:sti:rn  ]vo^rf■:.\  ix  ijastkhx  laxps 

squarely  met.  It  may  be  objected  that  Americiiii 
women,  too,  labored  under  j^reat  disadvantages; 
that  they  were  shut  from  the  sehools,  denied  the 
control  of  their  property,  treated  as  subordinates 
and  inferiors  ;  and  that  in  Christendom  we  have 
the  wliite-slave  trade,  the  red-ligiit  district,  and 
other  hateful  and  debasing  traffics  in  woman- 
hood. It  may  be  inquired  why  we  send  Christi- 
anity to  others  wiien  it  has  been  powerless  to  con- 
trol these  greatsocial  injustices  among  ourselves? 
Answer  to  lu  reply  to  these  it  may  be  wise  first  to  point 

objections.  ^,j^  j],.jt  i,j  ^1,^  non-Christian  world  these  dis- 
abilities and  injustices  are  sanctioned  by  the 
recognized  standards  of  the  people. 

Confucius  and  Mohammed,  Code  of  Manu,  and 
Buddhist  scriptures  alike  agree  in  assigning 
woman  to  a  position  of  inferiority  and  subordi- 
nation, and  in  treating  her  as  a  "  scandal  and  a 
slave,  a  drudge  and  a  disgrace,  a  temptation  and 
a  terror,  a  blemish  and  a  burden."  On  the  other 
hand,  the  liil)le,  as  the  authoritative  source  of 
Christianity,  and  the  teachings  of  the  greatest  ex- 
ponents of  Christianity  constantly  honor  women, 
and  inculcate  purity  of  life.  The  evils  that 
in  Christian  lands  are  recognized  as  sin,  known 
to  be  contrary  to  all  religious  standards,  and 
practised  only  by  those  who  do  not  accept  these 
standards,  are  in  non-Christian  lands  unashamed 
because  embedded  in  the  religious  sanctions  of 
the  nation.  Strictly  speaking,  there  is  no  Christian 
nation,  but  only  nations  in  process  of  becoming 


A  Hindu  Widow. 


LADIES  LAST  69 

Christian,  But  even  so,  the  steady  pressure  of 
Bible  ideals,  exerted  slowly  and  against  tremen- 
dous difficulties,  has  already  brought  a  revolu- 
tion in  the  position  of  women. 

We  have  quoted  somewhat  freely  from  the  Women  in 
scriptures  of  non-Christian  religions  in  regard  *^*^  ^'^^^' 
to  the  position  of  women  ,  it  is  not  amiss  to  re- 
fresh our  memories  on  the  Biblical  teachings. 
There  is  no  respect  in  which  the  Bible  isin  sharper 
contrast  with  all  its  contemporary  literature. 
No  study  ought  to  waken  greater  loyalty  in  the 
hearts  of  Christian  women  than  to  see  how  all 
the  reforms  of  Christendom  which  affect  women 
are  based  squarely  upon  the  principles  of  the 
Bible.  As  a  stimulus  to  further  study,  consider 
the  following  points  : 

1.  The  prominence  assigned  to  women  in  the 
Bible. 

What  a  noble  company  it  is,  —  Eve,  Rebecca, 
Rachel,  Miriam,  Deborah,  Hannah,  Huldah, 
Naomi,  Ruth,  the  widow  of  Zarephath,  the  Shuna- 
mite,  Vashti,  Ruth,  Esther,  the  three  Marys,  Elis- 
abeth, Anna,  Dorcas,  Lydia,  Priscilla,  Phcebe, 
Lois,  Eunice,  the  Elect  Lady.  The  perfect 
little  pen  sketches  of  godly  women  that  adorn 
the  pages  of  the  Bible  from  its  beginning  to  its 
end  cannot  be  surpassed  for  tenderness  and 
beauty.  Meek  wives  and  loving  mothers  are 
there  ;  but  there  are  also  prophets,  seers,  judges, 
queens,  deliverers,  poets.  High  courage  and 
noble   daring  are   there,    as   well   as  love   and 


70     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

renunciation.  These  women  think  as  well  as  be- 
lieve. It  is  hard  to  mention  any  quality  of  the 
woman  of  fully  developed  and  harmonious  per- 
sonality which  is  not  mirrored  in  one  or  more  of 
these  heroines  of  the  Bible, 

2.  The  tone  of  moral  purity  that  pervades  the 
Bible. 

The  deepest  affront  to  womanhood  is  the  levity 
and  impurity  with  which  the  facts  of  sex  have 
been  approached  in  life  and  literature.  If  the 
Bible  be  contrasted  with  any  of  the  ethnic  faiths^ 
with  the  myths  of  Greece  and  Egypt,  with  thought 
as  recorded  in  carving  and  temple  and  hieroglyph, 
the  white  glory  of  the  Book  shines  out.  Frank- 
ness there  is  in  the  Bible ;  the  frank  plainness 
of  speech  in  regard  to  facts  and  vices  which  be- 
longs to  a  primitive  time  and  people  ;  but  of  evil 
suggestion,  of  obscenity,  of  immoral  beautifying 
of  ugly  sin  under  fine  names,  not  a  trace.  All 
other  bibles  tried  by  this  test  fail ;  by  this  test 
the  Bible  stands  without  even  the  smell  of  fire 
about  its  garments.  Where  in  all  literature  will 
one  find  such  terrible,  searching  denunciation 
against  impurity  of  life  and  thought,  such  faith- 
ful holding  up  of  the  consequences  of  evil  ? 

The  commandment  against  adultery,  the  stern 
legislation  against  the  impurity  which  charac- 
terized ancient  social  life,  the  punishment  of 
Sodom,  the  solemn  warnings  of  the  prophets, 
the  broken-hearted  confessions  of  sin  and  long- 
ings for  purity  that  breathe  through  the  Psalms 


LADIES  LAST  71 

are  only  the  preparation  for  the  all-consuming 
purity  which  Jesus  taught  and  lived:  the  right 
hand  to  be  cut  off,  the  right  eye  to  be  plucked 
out,  the  secret  thought  of  evil  to  be  repented  of. 
Paul  moves  in  the  very  atmosphere  of  Jesus 
when  he  says,  "Know  ye  not  that  your  body  is 
the  temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost  which  is  in  you, 
which  ye  have  of  God,  and  ye  are  not  your  own? 
For  ye  are  bought  with  a  price,  therefore  glorify 
God  in  your  body  and  in  your  spirit,  which  are 

God's." 

3.  In  the  Bible  are  enunciated  the  principles 
which  will  finally  lead  to  the  complete  emancipa- 
tion of  ivomen. 

The  legislation  of  the  Old  Testament,  while 
partial  and  preparatory,  and  in  that  sense  im- 
perfect, is  marked  by  a  consideration  for  the 
rights  of  the  weak  and  dependent,  of  women, 
children,  the  poor,  the  slave,  that  sets  it  apart 
from  all  other  ancient  literature. 

The  very  account  of  the  creation,  "  In  the 
image  of  God  created  he  him,  male  and  female 
created  he  them,"  is  strange  to  primitive 
thought.  As  some  one  has  said  of  the  beauti- 
ful garden  story,  "Eve  was  taken  neither  from 
man's  head,  to  be  his  divinity,  nor  from  his  feet, 
to  be  his  slave,  but  from  his  side,  to  be  his  com- 
panion and  helper." 

The  gradual  development  of  the  doctrine  of 
the  individual  in  the  teachings  of  the  prophets 
laid  the  foundation  for  a  democracy  that  should 


72     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

at  last  abolish  the  caste  of  sex.  The  democracy 
of  the  New  Testament  got  its  seal  and  inspira- 
tion in  the  teachings  and  practice  of  Jesus.  He 
took  up  the  old  teaching  of  the  prophets,  ob- 
scured by  the  prejudice  of  centuries,  brushed 
aside  the  dishonoring  conventions  which  the 
rabbis  had  built  up,  and  associated  with  women 
in  the  plane  of  a  beautiful,  free,  human  relation- 
ship. He  sat  wearied  by  the  well  conversing 
with  a  woman  to  the  scandalizing  of  his  disci- 
ples, Avho  tliought  this  quite  beneath  him  as  a 
Iioly  man  and  rabbi.  To  women  he  reared  the 
lovely  memorial  of  his  praise,  and  at  the  faith 
of  women  he  marvelled.  Women  followed  him 
and  ministered  to  him.  He  alone  among  reli- 
gious teachers  had  a  word  of  hope  for  the  harlot, 
and  to  a  woman  he  gave  the  first  resurrection 
commission. 

It  is  not  strange  if  his  disciples  could  not  rise 
at  once  to  the  height  of  his  example  and  his 
teaching.  Paul  labors  hard  to  assure  us  that 
he  is  speaking  quite  on  his  own  responsibility 
and  is  not  at  all  inspired,  though  he  thinks  he 
understands  the  mind  of  Christ,  when  he  writes 
those  directions  to  the  Corinthian  Church  which 
have  been  a  stumbling-block  to  so  man3\  All 
these  specific  directions  of  his  are  to  be  read 
first  in  the  light  of  conditions  then  existing  in 
Greek  society,  summed  up  in  his  own  words,  — 
"  Let  all  things  be  done  decently  and  in  order"  ; 
second  in  the  light  of  his  own  consistenc  prac- 


LADIES  LAST  73 

tices,  and  third  in  the  light  of  his  own  fully- 
enunciated  principles.  When  so  regarded  it  is 
found  that  the  remarkable  freedom  already  de- 
veloping among  the  Christian  community  was 
laying  its  women  open  to  foul  imputations  in 
the  rich  Greek  city,  where  the  only  women  free 
to  speak  and  associate  with  the  men  were  women 
of  loose  character.  Hence  Paul's  urgency  that 
the  cause  be  not  imperilled  by  insisting  on  a  lib- 
erty which  was  turning  the  unaccustomed  heads 
of  the  women.  According  to  his  practice  we 
find  that  women  were  his  helpers  in  preaching 
and  organization,  that  his  letters  and  the  Book 
of  the  Acts  are  dotted  with  little  unconscious 
revelations  of  the  position  of  influence  which 
women  already  held  in  the  young  church  life. 
But  when  it  comes  to  principles,  Paul,  unen- 
cumbered by  the  need  of  practical  adjustment 
that  so  bothers  the  best  philosophers,  lays  down 
the  Magna  Charta  of  womanhood  in  a  Chris- 
tianity in  which  there  is  neither  male  nor  female, 
bond  nor  free,  but  in  which  all  are  one  in  Christ 
Jesus.  He  sees  clearly  that  the  duty  of  sub- 
ordination and  service  is  laid  on  all  alike  in 
Christ's  great  democracy  and  only  those  who 
love  most  are  most  honored. 

It  does  not  yet  appear  what  we  shall  be,  but 
is  already  manifest  that  the  spirit  of  Jesus  as  re- 
vealed to  us  in  the  word  of  his  truth  is  already 
making  a  new  world  ;  not  a  man's  world,  hard, 
cruel,  bitter  toward  the  weak,  nor  a  woman's 


74     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

world,  Aveak,  sentimental,  tasteless,  but  a  world 
of  humanity  in  whicli  for  the  first  time  tlie  full 
orb  of  all  the  qualities  that  serve  to  mark  the 
human  sliall  have  free  course  and  be  glorified. 
It  may  be  asked  why,  then,  if  the  Christian 
Scriptures  contain  these  teachings  concerning- 
women,  there  is  so  long  delayed  and  imperfectly 
realized  an  expression  of  the  same  in  social  and 
political  institutions.  The  answers  are  many  ; 
(1)  The  Bible  is  only  in  possession  of  a  frac- 
tion of  the  people,  and  that  only  within  the  last 
two  or  three  centuries.  For  ages  the  Rook  was 
either  prohibited  to  the  people  by  the  hieraroli y, 
or  rendered  inaccessible  by  its  cost,  or  made  of 
none  effect  by  the  illiteracy  and  sodden  igno- 
rance of  the  masses.  (2)  The  Bible  doctrines 
in  regard  to  women  are  the  last  word  in  dem- 
ocracy, and  the  first  word  is  just  getting  itself 
uttered.  Step  by  step  democracy  must  fight 
its  way  against  the  self-interest,  the  pride,  the 
passion,  and  the  prejudices  of  mankind.  (3)  A 
steady  progress  upward  can  be  seen  in  Christian 
countries  ;  laws  are  ameliorated,  violence  is 
curbed,  child  labor  is  limited,  women  do  come 
to  their  rights  in  exact  proportion  as  Christian 
ideals  become  dominant  in  a  nation.  (4)  The 
influence  of  these  principles  can  already  be  seen 
to  begin  to  penetrate  non-Christian  lands  in  pro- 
portion as  they  come  in  contact  with  the  reli- 
gion, the  institutions,  the  literature  of  Christian 
lands. 


LADIES  LAST  it> 

If,  as  we  have  seen,  the  ethnic  faiths  have  no  Conclusion 

1    r-        ,1  •       ^-  r  „j    of  the  whole 

clear  gospel  for  the  emancipation  ot  woman  and  ^^^^^^.^ 
child;  if  outside  of  Christian  countries  they 
still  labor  under  the  most  cruel  disabilities  of 
both  law  and  custom;  if  in  our  own  land  it  is 
the  spirit  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ  which  most 
powerfully  wars  against  intemperance,,  lust,  aod 
greed,  —  woman's  hereditary  foes,  —  the  duty 
of  Christian  women  to  put  within  the  reach  of 
their  sisters  in  other  lands  this  good  tidings  of 
great  joy  is  plain.  The  great  Emancipator  of  the 
mother  and  child  must  be  made  known  in  every 
dark  corner  of  the  earth.  In  the  title  of  our 
chapter  is  cleverly  summed  up  by  a  recent  writer 
on  India,  the  difference  between  that  land  and 
our  own,  —  "  Ladies  First,"  "  Ladies  Last,"  there 
stand  two  warring  theories  of  life.  In  the  one 
insolent  strength  triumphs  over  weakness,  greed 
takes  what  it  can  get,  the  wise  oppress  the 
ignorant.  Helpless  because  she  bears  the  child 
in  her  bosom,  woman  is  pushed  to  the  wall.  In 
the  other  the  very  spirit  of  the  Christ  is  incar- 
nate. Shoulders  are  strong  not  to  shove,  but 
to  bear  burdens,  wise  men  are  to  learn  of  the 
child-like,  the  masters  are  to  be  chief  servants 
of  all. 

QUESTION'S 

1.  How  many  women  are  there  in  non-Christian  lands; 
how  many  children  ? 

2.  In  what  non-Christian  lands  do  girls  receive  as  good  * 
an  education  as  boys  ?     Since  when  ? 


76     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

3.  In  what  lands  do  women  eat  with  tlieir  husbands 
at  a  family  table  ? 

4.  What  are  the  customs  in  regard  to  nauiiug  girls  iu 
non-Christiau  lands? 

5.  Trace  the  boundaries  of  the  empire  of  the  "  mother- 
in-law."  On  what  does  it  rest?  What  will  undermine 
it? 

6.  Tabulate  the  theories  of  Brahmanism,  Buddhism 
Confucianism,  and  Mohammedanism  in  regard  to  woman 
under  these  four  heads :  function,  character,  position, 
destiny. 

7.  Among  non-Christian  religions,  which  is  most  in- 
adequate in  its  estimate  of  women  ?  Which  in  its  gospel 
for  women  ? 

8.  If  you  were  to  be  born  a  woman  in  a  non-Christian 
land,  where  would  you  choose  to  be  born  ? 

9.  If  you  were  to  marry  into  a  Chinese  home,  wliat 
differences  in  your  daily  life  would  most  impress  you? 
In  a  Japanese  home?  A  Brahman  ?  A  low-caste  Hindu? 
A  Korean? 

10.  What  are  some  of  the  implications  of  Jesus' 
doctrine  of  the  child  yet  undemonstrated  in  any  land? 

11.  Collate  from  the  four  Gospels  all  the  passages  bear- 
ing on  marriage,  childhood,  the  home,  womanhood. 

12.  Study  the  legislation  embodied  in  the  Pentateuch, 
as  contrasted  with  other  early  codes:  for  example,  the 
laws  of  Manu  ;  of  Solon. 

BIBLE  READING 

(1)  The  Story  of  the  Magi.     Matthew  ii.  1-12. 

(2)  The  Setting  of  a  Child  in  the  Midst.  Matthew 
xviii.  1-6,  10. 

(3)  The  Woman  that  was  a  Sinner.     John  viii.  1-11. 

(4)  Some  of  the  New  Testament  Women. 

(1)  If  the  first  selection  is  chosen,  the  changed  posi- 


LADIES  LAST  77 

tion  which  Christianity  brought  to  motherhood  may  be 
emphasized. 

(2)  If  the  second  the  radical  change  in  the  position  of 
the  child. 

(3)  The  third  story  was  so  little  understood  by  the 
early  Christians  that  it  was  with  difficulty  it  maintained 
its  precarious  footing  in  the  manuscripts.  It  is  full  of 
the  insight  and  tenderness  of  Jesus. 

(4)  A  fourth  reading  in  which  each  member  of  the 
class  should  repeat  a  verse  characterizing  one  of  the 
women  of  the  Xew  Testament,  even  those  sweet  obscure 
faces  on  which  Paul  throws  an  instant's  illumination  of 
his  search-light.  Twenty  characters  could  be  given  in 
as  many  minutes. 

QUOTATIONS 

"  Ethnic  religions  and  barbarous  civilizations  have 
united  their  forces  in  the  consignment  of  womankind  to 
a  state  of  degradation — a  fact  which  rises  up  in  judg- 
ment against  these  erroneous  systems  in  all  ages  of 
history,  and  in  no  period  more  pronouncedly  than  in  our 
present  century.  She  is  still  regarded  as  of  old,  in  a 
non-Christian  environment,  as  a  scandal  and  a  slave, 
a  drudge  and  a  disgrace,  a  temptation  and  a  terror,  a 
blemish  and  a  burden,  at  once  the  touchstone  and  stum- 
bling-block of  human  systems,  the  sign  and  shame  of  the 
non-Christian  world."  —  Dennis,  "Christian  Missions 
and  Social  Progress,"  Vol.  I.,  p.  104. 

"  There  are  the  deva  dasies,  our  vestal  virgins,  of  whom 
even  small  and  poor  temples  have  one  or  two  to  boast. 
They  are  the  recognized  prostitutes  of  the  country,  and 
many  sociologists  are  of  the  opinion  that  no  '  civilized ' 
human  society  can  completely  get  rid  of  such  a  class.  Is 
that  any  reason  why  we  should  associate  them  with  our 
religion,  and  tempt  the  devil  himself  vrith  their  presence 
in  our  holiest  places  and  shrines?" — Hindu  writer  in 
recent  magazine  article  in  Madras,  India. 


78     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

"  The  incident  given  below  may  indicate  how  tyran- 
nically oppressed  a  woman  may  be  in  China.  One  day 
last  June  there  suddenly  appeared  in  our  home  a  woman 
(an  older  woman  accompanying  her)  who  seemed  to  be 
fleeing  in  terror.  She  was  young.  Her  husband,  she 
said,  was  a  slave  to  opium  and  had  sold  everything  they 
possessed  to  procure  it.  Fifteen  months  ago  she  had 
given  birth  to  their  first  child  —  a  little  son.  After  a 
few  weeks  the  unnatural  father  sold  the  babe  —  he 
had  to  have  opium  money.  Then  he  hired  his  wife  out 
as  a  wet-nurse,  and  her  monthly  earnings  were  his 
dependence.  When  that  income  had  to  be  abandoned, 
he  bargained  to  sell  her.  Two  men  had  bid  for  her. 
One  of  them,  who  was  a  leper,  and  naturally  found  it 
difficult  to  get  a  wife,  was  tlie  favored  bidder,  because  he 
offered  most  money.  At  this  crisis  the  trembling  little 
woman  stealthily  left,  and  ran  miles  to  her  own  mother's 
home.  News  had  followed  her  that  he  was  in  uncon- 
trollable rage  and  intending  to  kill  her ;  which  he  could 
do  without  fear  of  any  penalty !  She  was  his  property  to 
abuse  or  to  kill  or  to  leave  alive  as  best  served  his  jiersonal 
schemes.  But  in  her  own  mother's  home  she  was  conj- 
paratively  safe  from  his  violence."  —  Official  Minutes  of 
the  Foochow  Woman's  Conference,  1908. 

THE  BRIDE   IX   TURKEY 

"She  must  not  speak  aloud  in  the  presence  of  her 
mother-in-law,  nor  indeed  in  the  presence  of  any  of  her 
husband's  relatives.  She  may  not  sit  before  any  of  them, 
she  may  not  leave  the  house  without  permission  of  her 
mother-in-law,  and  she  may  not  even  ask  to  go,  but  must 
wait  until  the  motlier-in-law  of  her  own  accord  gives  leave. 
For  weeks  after  her  marriage  she  may  not  enter  a  church, 
not  even  for  those  services  for  women  only.  For  months, 
yes,  years,  in  Sabbath  school  she  may  not  read  aloud  a 
verse  from  her  Bible,  if  her  sister-in-law  or  the  most  dis- 


LADIES  LAST  79 

tant  relation  of  her  husband  is  within  hearing.  Nor 
may  she  at  home  even  silently  read  her  Bible  and  pray  if 
there  are  any  of  them  about;  and  there  is  no  private 
room  for  her  to  enter  and  shut  the  door.  She  may  only 
read  her  Bible  and  pray  after  the  rest  are  all  asleep.  She 
must  be  the  first  to  arise  in  the  morning  and  the  last  to 
bed  in  the  evening. 

"  She  must  have  her  bed  put  up  and  be  ready  to  take 
up  tliose  of  other  members  of  the  family  whenever  it 
shall  please  them  to  rise.  She  must  pour  water  on  the 
hands  of  her  mother-in-law,  father-in-law,  and  brothers- 
in-law,  and  must  know  by  instinct  the  moment  they  will 
want  her.  She  must  stand  with  her  hands  crossed  while 
they  eat  and  anticipate  every  want,  and  when  they  have 
finished  she  may  take  the  remains  of  the  meal  into  the 
dark,  dirty,  little  kitchen,  and  after  having  poured  water 
on  the  hands  of  her  betters  and  swept  up  the  crumbs,  she 
may  satisfy  her  own  hunger,  if  there  be  enough  food  left 
•for  that,  and  if  some  one  does  not  ask  for  a  drink  of  water, 
or  the  everlasting  coffee  and  pipe  is  not  called  for. 

"  The  youngest  son  of  the  house,  though  but  eight  or 
ten  years  of  age,  coming  in  from  school  may  order  her  to 
give  hitn  his  ball  or  jack-knife,  to  take  his  books  or  clean 
his  shoes.  And  woe  to  her  if  she  happens  to  suggest  that 
he  might  wait  upon  himself  a  little,  or  to  say  that  she  does 
not  know  where  the  thing  he  wants  is. 

"  The  mother-in-law  locks  up  all  eatables  and  puts  the 
key  in  her  pocket ;  her  husband  does  not  give  her  a  bit 
of  money,  she  may  not  ask  him  for  a  new  pair  of  shoes 
or  a  dress.  She  must  wait  until  his  mother  suggests  that 
he  may  get  this  or  that  for  her.  The  nice  things  her  own 
mother  prepared  for  her  she  may  not  wear  unless  his 
mother  approves. 

"  As  time  passes,  and  her  situation  calls  for  some  deli- 
cacy or  change  of  food,  she  dare  not  ask  for  it.  She  may 
not  talk  with  the  husband  of  the  sweet  prospects,  or  plan 
with  him  for  the  care  and  training  of  that  new  life.     She 


80     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

may  not  plan  nor  her  fingers  sew  those  little  clothes  for 
the  new-comer,  and  when  it  arrives  she  must  not  kiss  it 
nor  caress  it  except  by  stealth.  Nor  may  she  teach  the 
little  one  to  call  her  'mother';  she  is  only  ^gelen' 
(bride).  To  its  father  she  must  teach  it  to  say  '  uncle' 
just  as  the  children  of  the  other  sons  of  the  house  do,  for 
the  holy  names  of  mother  and  father  may  be  applied  to 
none  in  that  house  as  long  as  the  mother-in-law  lives. 

"  Oh,  God,  how  long,  how  long  I  we  often  cry,  and 
ask  why  girls  will  not  see  what  there  is  before  them  and 
refuse  to  niarry  at  all. 

"Let  us  look  at  that  side  of  it  a  little.  Her  mother 
has,  from  the  time  she  could  talk,  filled  her  brain  with 
the  idea  that  to  marry  is  the  chief  end  of  woman.  And 
the  highest  public  sentiment  in  the  most  advanced  com- 
munity of  Turkey  to-day  looks  on  an  unmarried  female 
as  unworthy  of  respect  or  sympathy.  Her  father  may 
stand  by  her  and  protect  her  as  long  as  he  lives ;  but  the 
brother  will  not  make  her  welcome  in  the  old  home  after 
the  father's  death.  If  the  brotiier  is  forced  to  support 
her,  he  makes  life  miserable ;  and  as  yet  there  is  no  pos- 
sible way  of  her  supporting  herself.exceptthe  very  few  who 
are  employed  by  the  Missionary  Boards.  So,  bad  as  the 
mother-in-law  is,  the  girl  knows  that  her  own  brother's 
wife  will  be  worse.  And  there  is  no  possibility  of  her 
having  a  home  with  a  sister,  so  she  marries."  —  Condensed 
from  lea/let  "  The  Bride  in  Turkey." 

The  following  account  is  condensed  from 
"  Modern  Egypt "  by  Lord  Cromer,  so  long 
England's  representative  in  the  government 
of  that  country : 

"It  cannot  be  doubted  that  the  seclusion  of  women 
exercises  a  baneful  influence  on  Eastern  society.  The 
arguments  on  this  subject  are,  indeed,  so  commonplace 
that  it  is  needless  to  dwell  upon  them.     It  will  be  suffi- 


LADIES   LAST  81 

cient  to  say  that  seclusion,  by  confining  the  sphere  of 
woman's  interest  to  a  very  limited  horizon,  cramps  the 
intellect  and  withers  the  mental  development  of  one-half 
the  population  of  Moslem  countries.  An  Englishwoman 
asked  an  Egyptian  lady  how  she  passed  her  time.  '  I  sit 
on  this  sofa,'  she  answered,  '  and  when  I  am  tired  I  cross 
over  and  sit  on  that.' 

******* 

"  The  effects  of  polygamy  are  more  baneful  and  far- 
reaching  than  those  of  seclusion.  The  whole  fabric  of 
European  society  rests  upon  the  preservation  of  family 
life.  Monogamy  fosters  family  life,  polygamy  destroys 
it.  The  monogamous  Christian  respects  women  ;  the 
teaching  of  his  religion  and  the  incidents  of  his  religious 
worship  tend  to  elevate  them.  He  sees  in  the  Virgin 
Mary  the  ideal  of  womanhood,  which  would  be  incom- 
prehensible in  a  Moslem  country.  The  Moslem,  on  the 
other  hand,  despises  women  ;  both  his  religion  and  the 
example  of  his  Prophet,  the  history  of  whose  family  life 
has  been  handed  down  to  him,  tend  to  lower  them  in  his 
eyes. 

"  The  practice  of  monogamy  has  of  late  years  been  gain- 
ing ground  among  the  more  enlightened  Egyptians ; 
nevertheless,  it  cannot  as  yet  be  called  general.  The 
first  thing  an  Egj'ptian  of  the  lower  class  will  do  when 
he  gets  a  little  money  is  to  marry  a  second  wife.  A 
groom  in  my  stables  was  divorced  and  remarried  eleven 
times  in  the  course  of  a  year  or  two.  I  remember  hear- 
ing of  an  old  Pasha  who  complained  peevishly  that  he 
had  to  go  to  the  funeral  of  his  first  wife,  to  whom  he  was 
married  forty  years  before,  and  whose  very  existence  he 
had  forcjotten." 


CHAPTEE   III 

A  Bird's-eye  View  of  the  Activities  of  the 
"Women's  Missionary  Societies  on  the  Foreigk 
Field. 

Schools 

Hospitals 

Philanthropies 

Industries 

Evangelism 


CHAPTER   III 

MISSIONARIES   AT    WORK 

The  Story  of  3Ian{fold   Undertakings 

In  the  first  chapter  we  have  considered  the   Subject, 
subject,  in  the  second  the  object,  in  the  third 
we  shall  study  the  activities  of    the  Women's 
Missionary  Societies  ;     after    seeing   how  they  * 

started  and  the  need  of  their  going,  we  now 
try  to  get  a  broad  view  of  what  they  do  and 
how  they  set  about  it. 

It  would  be  no  small  task  to  tabulate  all  Agencies  on 
the  things  undertaken  by  the  women's  socie-  *^^  ^ 
ties.  Beginning  in  simplicity  they  have  con- 
tinually^ grown  in  complexity,  branching  out 
in  all  manner  of  special  tasks.  Yet  while  each 
society  has  individuality,  there  are  certain  broad 
lines  that  characterize  them  all.  They  found 
schools  of  various  grades  for  children  and 
women,  they  open  hospitals  and  dispensaries, 
they  do  evangelistic  work  in  zenanas  and  out, 
they  establish  industries  and  philanthropies. 

In  fact   missionaries   opened  the  first  social  True  social 

settlement.       Before    our    Toynbee    Hall    was 

opened    in    London,    in   hundreds    of    obscure 

mission   stations  men  and  women  were  work- 

85 


86     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

ing  out  the  Gospel  in  terms  of  social  need. 
Girls'  clubs  and  boys'  clubs,  close  neighbor- 
liness  between  the  privileged  and  the  less 
privileged,  industrial  training,  story-telling, 
lessons  in  domestic  science,  all  had  their  be- 
ginnings in  the  foreign  mission  field  a  gen- 
eration before  they  were  adopted  in  the  home 
lands.  Men  or  women  seldom  think  on  a 
tangent  unless  forced  out  of  the  comfortable 
circle  of  the  commonplace  by  pressure  of  need 
or  suffering.  It  was  the  frightful  pressure  of 
heathen  society  that  drove  the  missionaries  to 
adopt  untried  methods,  if  by  all  means  they 
might  save  some.  The  first  women  sent  out 
found  that  they  were  to  meet  tlie  most  difficult 
problem  of  the  whole  field,  the  winning  of 
heathen  women  and  girls  for  Christ. 
The  citadel  In  the  beginning  of  modern  missions  atten- 
tion had  been  concentrated  naturally  on  men 
and  boys,  for  they  were  tlie  only  ones  who  were 
get-at-able.  Then,  too,  there  was  a  certain  su- 
periority in  the  attitude  of  the  masculine  world, 
at  that  time,  which  made  it  very  difficult  for 
men  to  realize  that  these  ignorant  heathen 
mothers  and  wives,  so  far  from  accepting 
meekly  the  changed  religious  views  of  their 
sons  or  husbands,  actually  were  able  to  drown 
all  new  ideas  by  the  dank  weight  of  their  fool- 
ish superstition.  The  whole  world  was  going 
to  school  to  learn  that  a  nation  can  be  lifted 
no   higher   than    its    women  will  permit.     To 


uf  heathen' 
doiu 


MISSIONARIES  AT   WORK  87 

paraphrase  Booker  T.  Washington's  saying 
about  the  negro  :  You  can't  hold  women 
down  in  the  ditch  without  staying  in  the  mud 
yourself.  Two  generations  of  hard  experience 
had  forced  upon  missionaries,  and  through 
them,  upon  the  Boards  at  home,  the  convic- 
tion that  the  citadel  of  heathendom  was  in 
the  heathen  home,  and  that  tliis  citadel  could 
be  taken  only  by  the  assault  of  women.  The 
same  Boards  whose  opposition  in  the  thirties 
defeated  the  foundation  of  Mrs.  Doremus'  so- 
ciety, in  the  sixties  were  glad  to  further  the 
organization  of  the  Women's  Boards  of  Mis- 
sions formed  for  the  purpose  of  sending  out 
single  women  to  open  schools  for  girls  and 
women. 

So  it  came  about  very  naturally  that  the  first  The  first 
volunteers  to  be  sent  to  the  front  were  the  army  c«°ti°gent. 
of  school-teachers.  To  be  sure,  some  of  them 
were  already  on  the  field !  We  have  seen  from 
the  very  beginning  the  missionary  societies 
had  received  a  loyal  support  from  the  women. 
Some  of  them  had  more  precious  gifts  to  give 
than  money,  and  wanted  to  enlist  for  foreign  ser- 
vice. When  these  were  women  of  exceptional 
courage,  resolution,  and  ability  they  got  their 
way,  and  were  sent  even  in  the  days  when  every- 
body deprecated  the  sending  of  "  single  females  " 
to  face  such  toils  and  responsibilities  unshep- 
herded  and  unsupported  by  male  wisdom  and 
experience.     Among  this  heroic  advance  guard 


the  reserves. 


88     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

were  women  like  Fidelia  Fiske,  the  pioneer  of 
women's  education  in  Persia,  Eliza  Agnew, 
"  mother  of  a  thousand  daughters  "  in  far  away 
Ceylon,  and  Beulah  Woolston,  founder  of  the 
Foochow  Girls'  School. 
Calling  out  Interesting  as  it  would  be  to  follow  tlie  fortunes 
of  tliese  scouting  parties,  our  business  is  with 
the  army  of  American  school-teachers  who,  at 
the  call  of  tlie  Women's  Boards,  sprang  to  under- 
take the  stupendous  task  of  educating  a  half- 
billion  illiterates.  Future  generations  will  do 
justice  to  the  heroism  of  these  quiet  women  who 
heard  the  call  to  go  out  from  their  own  country 
to  a  land  which  they  knew  not,  and  went  out 
in  faith  to  a  work  that  God  should  show  them. 
Slowly  the  volunteers  came  in  at  first;  "  It  was 
a  difficult  thing  to  find  two  women  ready  and 
willing  to  undertake  missionary  work,"  says  Mrs. 
Gracey,  recording  the  beginnings  of  the  Meth- 
odist society  ;  and  again,  "  Heathenism  seemed 
a  fortress  to  human  sight  well-nigh  impreg- 
nable, and  many  thought  it  foolishness  that  in- 
experienced women  should  dare  assail  these 
strongholds  of  evil."  The  Congregational 
women  sent  out  seven  the  first  year,  and  tlie 
Baptists  two  the  first  and  two  the  second.  The 
number  of  volunteers  increased  steadily  as  the 
difficulty  of  the  service  and  the  long,  long  road 
ahead  became  evident.  New  schools  were  founded, 
broader  plans  were  formed,  diversified  types  of 
education  were  added,  until  to-day  the  women's 


MISSIONARIES  AT    WORK  89 

Boards  of  the  world  have  in  the  field  900  Amer- 
ican teachers  and  1950  schools.     The  mission  , 
school  bell  rings  round  the  world. 

Think  of  the  tasks  that  confronted  these  pio-  Tasks, 
neer  school-teachers  :  a  language  to  learn,  build- 
ings to  provide,  pupils  to  secure,  a  big,  black 
weight  of  scepticism  regarding  the  practicability 
and  value  of  their  work  to  remove. 

The  first  handicap  to  remove  was  ignorance  Learning  a 
of  the  language.  Before  the  impatient  mission-  ^^o^'^S^- 
ary  could  think  of  beginning  her  school  she 
herself  must  be  a  pupil.  Nor  was  it  always 
eas}''  to  secure  a  teacher.  The  very  idea  of  in- 
structing a  woman  was  trying  to  native  dignity, 
and  sometimes  native  stupidity  was  equally  try- 
ing to  the  teacher-pupil.  The  naive  wonder  of 
the  traveller  in  Paris  to  find  that  even  children 
were  able  to  speak  French  must  often  overtake 
the  missionary  to  find  all  sorts  of  ignorant  folk 
threading  their  way  quite  easily  through  the 
labyrinth  of  some  of  the  worst  tongues  that  ever 
entered  the  mind  of  man  to  conceive.  Take 
Chinese  for  example,  "a  work  for  men  with 
bodies  of  brass,  lungs  of  steel,  heads  of  oak, 
hands  of  spring  steel,  eyes  of  eagles,  hearts  of 
apostles,  memories  of  angels,  and  lives  of  Me- 
thuselah." Think  of  trying  to  learn  a  language 
where  verbs  have  no  inflection,  where  "  Beh  Khi " 
may  mean  I  go  or  tJiei/  go  or  he  ivill  go  or  she 
wishes  to  go.  Think  of  an  innocent  little  word 
like  "  Ki "  meaning:  seven  different  things,  ac- 


90     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

cording  to  the  rise  or  fall  of  the  voice,  the  stress, 
the  accent,  the  tone  in  which  you  speak  it.  Then 
imagine  the  clifliculty  of  training  unaccustomed 
ears  to  detect  such  niceties  in  the  rapid  stream 
of  speech.  To  the  difficulties  of  speaking  add 
the  difficulties  of  learning  to  read  in  a  language 
like  the  Chinese,  wliere  each  word  has  its  indi- 
vidual sign  or  symbol,  and  learning  to  read  is 
the  process  of  learning  to  recognize  a  multitude 
of  ideographs,  bewilderingly  intricate,  and  con- 
fusingly similar.  A  person  who  has  a  bowing 
acquaintance  with  ten  thousand  of  these  charac- 
ters is  fairly  well  educated,  but  to  be  able  to 
really  master  the  Chinese  classics  a  much  larger 
vocabulary  must  be  stored  in  the  memory.  No 
wonder  the  the  early  missionaries  thought  that 
the  evil  one  himself  invented  Chinese  for  the 
purpose  of  keeping  Christianity  out. 

Added  to  the  difficulty  of  learning  to  speak 
the  language  was  the  greater  difficulty  of  find- 
ing terms  to  express  the  ideas  which  the  mission- 
ary had  come  halfway  round  the  world  to 
convey.  The  Hawaiian  tongue  had  no  word  for 
weather  nor  for  chastity,  having  no  experience 
with  either;  in  many  languages  the  most  pre- 
cious truths  of  Christianity  had  to  force  their 
way  by  bending  stubborn  words  to  new  ideas, 
and  filling  old  terms  with  a  new  content. 
Gathering  a  Once  in  the  field  with  a  fair  start  made  with 
the  language  difficulties  were  only  beginning. 
Not    the    difficulties    regarding    building    and 


school. 


MISSIONARIES  AT   WORK  91 

equipment,  those  could  wait.  A  shell  did  for 
a  slate,  a  stretch  of  smooth  beach  or  a  clay  floor 
made  an  admirable  blackboard,  a  broad  ve- 
randa or  the  shade  of  a  tree  did  for  school- 
room, but  to  find  pupils,  —  that  was  a  different 
matter.  Perhaps  some  of  those  dear  women  in 
the  first  flush  of  their  missionary  enthusiasm 
thought  of  these  millions  of  women  and  children 
as  eager  for  the  truth,  and  had  visions  of  Madam 
Ethiopia  stretching  out  her  hands  to  God  ;  but 
if  so  they  were  destined  to  receive  a  rude  shock. 
People  didn't  want  their  girls  educated,  didn't 
believe  they  could  be  educated,  wouldn't  even 
run  the  risk  of  trying  it,  for  fear  that  real 
"  womanly  graces  "  would  be  sacrificed.  A 
Chinese  gentleman  derisively  put  spectacles  on 
his  cow,  and  suggested  that  he  send  her  to 
school  ;  a  grave  Hindu  quoted  his  sacred  books, 
and  deprecated  any  putting  of  silly  notions 
into  his  child-wife's  head,  and  the  women  and 
girls  themselves  giggled  and  smilingly  refused 
to  do  any  such  headaching  and  terrible  tasks  as 
the  missionary  ladies  set  for  them.  Nor  has 
this  incredulity  in  regard  to  the  possibility  of 
educating  girls  wholly  passed  away  even  yet. 
I  well  remember  a  few  years  ago,  seeing  the 
absolute  amazement  of  a  Moslem  gentleman 
when  he  learned  that  the  sister  of  one  of  his 
friends,  a  Copt,  a  merchant  in  Luxor,  kept  his 
books.  Read  ?  Write  ?  Cipher  ?  Actually 
add,  multiply,  and  divide  ?     Impossible  !    When 


92     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

convinced  that  the  impossible  had  really  hap- 
pened, and  that  these  accomplishments  had 
been  learned  in  the  American  school,  lie  said  to 
the  merchant,  "If  your  sister  can  really  learn, 
it  may  be  that  my  daughter  can"  ;  and  forth- 
with put  liis  eleven-year-old  daughter  in  school. 
Securing  In  the  early  days  all  sorts  of  schemes  had  to 

pupils.  -^^   resorted   to,    to   get   pupils.       Waifs   were 

picked  up  from  the  dump  heaps,  orphans 
adopted,  famine  victims  were  rescued,  children 
were  bouglit  from  cruel  masters,  parents  were 
paid  to  send  their  children  to  school,  while  the 
demonstration  was  made  that  a  girl  was  a  real 
human  being,  with  a  real  and  not  an  imitation 
mind,  and  that  these  little  daughters  could  be 
educated  as  well  as  the  sons.  Then  jjcrhaps, 
some  fine  morning,  when  the  work  seemed  well 
started,  the  teacher  would  find  that  lier  shy 
pupils  had  scampered  away  home,  friglitened 
by  some  weird  tale  that  the  foreign  devil  with 
green  eyes  only  wanted  little  girls  so  that  she 
could  kill  them  and  get  their  hearts  to  use  in 
her  black  arts,  or  that  she-who-must-be-obeyed 
was  charming  their  souls  out  of  their  bodies 
when  she  muttered  her  incantations  to  her  un- 
seen God.  Then  the  work  had  to  begin  all  over 
again.  Marriage,  too,  was  a  scourge  to  the 
schoolma'am.  Just  as  bright  eyes  were  begin- 
ning to  read,  and  untrained  minds  seemed  ready 
to  blossom,  the  little  maidens  must  be  married, 
and  all  intellectual  progress  cease. 


MISSIOXARIES  AT   WORK  93 

The  story  is  told  of  one  missionary  who 
opened  a  school  for  girls  among  the  mountain 
people  of  Assam,  and  after  some  persuasion 
succeeded  in  getting  ten  girls  to  come.  All 
but  one  of  these  were  orphans,  who  were  glad 
of  any  place  to  eat  and  sleep.  Yet  the  second 
year  so  great  was  the  prejudice  against  educa- 
tion of  girls  that  only  one  of  them  returned  to 
school.  The  missionary  wisely  decided  to  close 
her  school  for  a  year,  and  go  to  live  among 
people  in  their  villages,  getting  their  confidence 
and  explaining  the  new  idea.  The  result  of 
this  cultivation  of  the  field  was  twenty-one  girls 
to  take  down  from  their  homes  to  the  school. 

In  the  year  1908  report  of  the  Woman's 
Conference  in  Foochow  there  is  an  account  of 
a  meeting  of  Chinese  Bible  women  in  a  girls' 
school,  from  which  the  following  extracts  are 
taken: 

"  It  is  one  of  those  wonderful  October-summer  days 
■when  every  window  seems  to  frame  a  little  bit  of  heaven. 
Perhaps  such  days  do  not  grow  anywhere  but  in  Yen- 
ping.  In  front  is  a  perfect  purple  mountain,  cut  clear 
against  the  blue;  on  the  left,  soft,  friendly  hills,  their 
heads  lost  in  dreams  and  silver  clouds;  on  the  right, 
deep  down  below  us,  the  loveliest  river  in  the  world  Lies 
sleeping  in  the  sun.  Sweet  summer  sounds  fill  the  air 
with  gentle  music,  and  tease  your  soul  out  of  doors 
among  the  wild,  living  things. 

"  Yet  there  is  enough  indoors  to  charm  and  thrill  you, 
though  it  takes  the  anointed  eye  and  trained  ear  to  dis- 
cover romance  buttoned  inside  the  blue  cotton  jackets 
that  sit  in  such  quiet,  neat  rows  before  us.     On  one  side 


94     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

of  the  room  there  are  forty  schoolgirls,  trim  as  primroses, 
their  shining  black  heads  and  tasselled  braids  as  uniform 
as  paper  dolls  cut  out  all  at  once ;  and  on  the  other  side 
are  as  many  women,  their  varied  and  fantastic  head-gear 
proclaiming  to  the  world  each  lady's  home  village. 

"It  is  the  Yen-jiing  Conference;  a  Chinese  woman 
is  presiding,  and  others  are  giving  addresses.  A  gentle 
little  woman  is  just  now  stepping  to  the  front,  whose  re- 
fined face  shows  lines  of  trial  and  the  sweet  chastening 
which  comes  from  a  hard  fight  in  a  hard  place,  for 
Christ's  sake.  She  is  speaking  earnestly  of  the  needs  of 
the  women  in  Sung-chiong,  fifty  miles  up  the  river,  where 
she  works.  Somehow  while  she  is  talking  the  sunshine 
seems  to  fade  away  as  she  draws  aside  the  curtain  from 
the  dark  picture,  and  we  see  Sung-chiong.  There  is  the 
big,  rambling  town,  the  crowded,  cluttered  houses,  their 
groujis  of  garishly  dressed  women,  their  cramped  little 
minds  so  filled  with  follies  and  fears  that  it  seems  well- 
nigh  impossible  to  find  any  entrance  for  the  word  that 
giveth  life.  'Oh,  their  hearts  are  like  the  wild  moun- 
tain birds!'  she  cries,  'and  you  catch  them  and  they  fly 
away,  and  you  seize  them  again  and  again,  and  still  they 
dart  off,  even  after  you  hoped  that  they  were  getting 
tamed  a  little.  Do  pray  for  me  that  I  may  be  patient  to 
catch  them  to-day,  and  again  to-morrow,  and  again  the 
next  day,  until  at  last  they  are  willing  to  stay.' 

"Our  hearts  fly  out  of  the  schoolroom  windows,  down 
to  the  lovely  wild  river  and  up  over , the  purple  hill. 
They  are  going  with  Mrs.  Ling  and  her  chaperon  of  the 
paddle,  up  the  fifty  perilous  miles  to  Sung-chiong,  back 
to  the  groups  of  women  with  hearts  like  wild  mountain 
birds,  or  over  the  hard  mountain  road  to  Ila-maiu, 
where  the  Gospel  is  bitterly  hated. 

"  But  there  is  enough  indoors  to  absorb  our  loving 
thought  if  we  will,  though  one  must  again  have  the  en- 
lightened eyes  to  see  it.  For  these  rows  of  neat  maidens 
now  working  away  so  busily  do  not  grow  this  way,  like 


MISSIONARIES  AT    WORK  95 

posies  in  a  garden,  indeed  they  do  not !  You  need  only 
have  a  hand  in  the  scouring  and  scrubbing  to  learn  that 
by  heart!  There's  Fair  Jewel,  now  industriously  pen- 
ning queer  characters,  and  never  dreaming  that  she  is 
being  talked  about  —  she  was  indeed  a  jewel  in  the  rough 
when  she  came !  Away  down  in  the  lu-ka  district, 
eighty  mountainous  miles  from  here,  is  a  place  called 
Fiftieth  Township,  and  there  this  little  girl  lives  in  the 
home  of  the  lad  who  is  one  day  to  be  her  husband. 

"  The  father  of  this  boy  had  become  a  Christian,  and 
most  eager  that  his  little  daughter-in-law  to  be  should 
have  the  education  which  his  ignorant  wife  could  not 
give  her.  So,  though  the  child  was  far  too  young,  he 
pleaded  so  hard  that  the  missionaries  could  not  refuse, 
and  he  succeeded  in  persuading  eight  of  his  neighbors  to 
send  their  daughters. 

"It  meant  a  painful  journey  on  foot  over  steep  moun- 
tain paths  for  eighty  or  even  a  hundred  miles  for  some 
of  these  little  folks  to  come  to  school.  Oh,  we  get  our 
opportunities  all  too  easy  in  America !  Fair  Jewel  was 
quite  too  small  to  walk,  being  only  eight;  so  her  father 
hired  a  man  to  carry  her  on  his  back  all  the  eighty  tedious 
miles.  The  other  girls  walked  all  the  way,  and  slept  at 
night  in  unspeakable  inns,  and  cried  sometimes  because 
their  feet  were  sore  with  the  long,  hard  climbing.  Twenty- 
five  miles  a  day  might  be  a  task  for  most  of  us  on  an  easy 
American  road !  They  might  have  come  by  boat,  it  is 
true,  but  that  would  have  cost  their  poor  fathers  a  big, 
round,  impossible  dollar,  and  so  they  walked. 

"  Ah,  no,  they  do  not  grow  in  this  way,  like  posies  in  a 
garden  ;  nor  are  they  gathered  in  handfuls  as  posies  are. 
To  learn  that,  you  must  try  building  up  a  school  for  girls 
or  women  in  a  heathen  land,  where  woman  is  despised. 
And  you  will  find  that  it  means  for  the  missionary  long, 
toilsome  climbs  over  those  very  mountains,  sometimes  in 
soaking  rains,  and  it  means  nights  spent  in  those  un- 
speakable inns,  and  desolate  voyages  up  the  wild  rivers ; 


96     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

indeed,  it  has  sometimes  meant  inevitable  cold  and  hun- 
ger and  shipwreck  before  these  shy  blossoms  could  be 
gathered.  After  they  are  at  length  secured,  the  trans- 
planting is  far  from  easy,  for  the  dialects  differ  every  few 
miles;  and  the  little  girl  or  woman  finds  herself  among 
a  people  of  alien  speech,  and  loneliness  is  to  the  Chinese 
■woman  of  all  evils  the  most  intolerable — wherein  she 
is  exactly  like  the  rest  of  us.  So,  the  fact  that  after  seven 
years  of  missionary  residence  in  Yen-ping  there  are  forty 
girls  here  in  school,  and  twenty  students  in  the  women's 
school,  from  which  as  many  more  have  already  gone  out 
into  active  service,  tells  of  a  series  of  victories  that  only 
the  angels  can  rightly  comprehend.  There  were  not  ten 
Christian  women  among  all  the  two  and  a  half  millions 
of  people  in  this  prefecture  fifteen  years  ago ;  to-day  not 
less  than  five  hundred  women  in  the  Yen-ping  prefecture 
acknowledge  Jesus  as  their  lord,  and  more  than  a  hun- 
dred little  girls  are  learning  in  the  schools  to  love  Him. 
"Now,  when  Miss  Hartford  took  Fair  Jewel  home  to 
Fiftieth  Township  last  summer,  she  was  by  no  means  a 
finished  product ;  but  the  transformation  was  sufficient 
to  bring  women  walking  on  their  crippled  little  feet  for 
miles  to  look  upon  her.  'Can  this  be  that  child?'  they 
asked.  'Don't  you  remember  her?  She  was  so  lazy  and 
untidy  you  couldn't  bear  to  have  her  near  you  —  look  at 
her  now ! '  It  was  quite  true,  she  had  seemed  almost  im- 
possible at  first.  All  attempts  to  teach  her  the  simplest 
matters  about  cleanliness  and  orderliness  were  vain. 
With  many  of  the  forty  in  varying  degrees  it  is  the  same 
story ;  the  child  who  has  never  once  been  really  clean,  and 
has  never  learned  the  first  notion  of  obedience,  but  has 
been  scolded  or  indulged  all  her  life,  must  be  made  over 
into  a  sweet,  tractable,  self-controlled  young  woman.  Tt 
is  not  the  work  of  a  day  nor  of  a  year;  but  if  you  could 
have  seen  the  dear  girls  kneeling  about  the  altar  Sunday 
at  the  communion  hour,  it  would  have  seemed  to  you,  as  it 
did  to  me,  very  like  the  garden  of  the  Lord,  where  He 
hath  both  planted  and  hath  given  the  increase." 


MISSIONARIES  AT   WORK  97 

At   the    bottom    of   the    educational    ladder  vniasre 
stands   the    village    school.       It   may   be   held  ^'='^°°^^- 
under  the   shade  of  a  big  tree,  in  the  private 
house  of   some   progressive    Christian,    on   the 
veranda    of    the  missionary  bungalow ;  it  has 
few  books,  and  little  else  in  the  way  of  supplies. 
Here  for  a  few  months  in  the  favorable  season 
of  the  year  are  gathered  the  village  children. 
Shy  little  Fellahin  in  the  mud  villages  of  Egypt, 
grave-looking  caste  children,  or  wild,  unkempt 
outcastes  in  India,  woolly-headed  youngsters  in 
an  African    kraal,  picturesque    Japanese   with 
the   inevitable   baby   lolling    on   their    patient 
backs,  stolid  Chinese  unblinking  and  sedate,  in 
every  land  like  the  tiny  rivulets  feeding  some 
mighty  river  system,  the  village  school  gathers 
in    recruits,  and  pours  its  contribution  of  the 
brightest  pupils  to  the  larger  schools. 

The    work   of   these  little  village  schools  is   A  Chinese 
often  done  by  native  helpers  under  conditions  H^^^^^ 
that  would  daunt  any  but  the  stoutest  heart. 
One  such,  in  a  Chinese  hamlet  far  up  the  moun- 
tain  side,   was  described   in   a   recent   report. 
The   schoolroom    was    a    crowded   little   room, 
where   nets   were   mended,  potatoes,  fish,  and 
peanuts    dried,    and  wheat   and   rice  threshed. 
The  air  in  the  room  was  vile  from  the  stench 
of    the    court   where    the    pigs    and    chickens 
roamed  at  will.     This  was  the  only  place  the 
village  afforded.     The  teacher,  herself  a  former 
pupil  in  the  girls'  boarding-school,  taught  school 

H 


98     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

between  spells  of  housework  and  care  for  her 
baby  and  little  children.  Yet  out  of  these 
unpromising  conditions  five  uncouth  village 
children  have  gotten  enough  education  to  be 
sent  to  the  distant  boarding-school,  and  in  spite 
of  noise  and  fretful  babies,  the  tired  mother  has 
done  good,  faithful  work,  for  her  pupils  come 
well  prepared  in  the  "•  Romanized,"  in  arith- 
metic, and  the  New  National  Reader.  One  of 
these  girls  shows  exceptional  promise,  and  all 
five  will  doubtless  finish  the  full  course.  Nor 
are  these  five  all,  for  the  scores  who  can  go  no 
farther  than  their  crowded  village  school  will 
enter  life  with  ability  to  read,  with  Bible 
chapters  and  hymns  familiar  and  Avell  loved, 
and  with  a  wholly  new  out-look. 
Hoarding-  The  boarding-school  is  organized  more  nearly 

on  Western  lines.  Here  pupils  are  taken  out 
of  their  home  environment,  and  for  months  or 
years  subjected  to  constant  Christian  environ- 
ment and  training.  There  are  two  types  of 
these  schools  :  in  one  the  furniture,  books, 
appliances  conform  more  or  less  closely  to 
European  and  American  models ;  in  the  other, 
native  customs  are  preserved  wherever  possible. 
For  example,  in  one  of  the  best  girls'  board- 
ing-schools in  India  the  dormitory  is  a  large, 
lofty,  airy  room,  clean  and  absolutely  bare.  On 
one  side  the  mats  or  quilts  of  the  pupils  are 
rolled  up.  The  bathrooms  are  simply  a  row 
of   deep   troughs,   screened   from    observation, 


schools. 


MISSIONARIES  AT    WORK  99 

open  to  the  air.  The  kitchen  is  a  half-dozen  little 
earthen  fireplaces,  on  which,  over  a  mere  hand- 
ful of  coals,  the  rice  and  curry  are  boiled  or  the 
chupatties  baked.  Mats  to  squat  on  and  brass 
bowls  to  eat  from  form  the  chaste  furniture  of 
the  dining  room.  Which  type  is  better  ?  Are 
both  types  needed  ? 

The  following  programs  of  the  day's  activi-  Daily 
ties  are  fairly  typical  of  what  may  be  found  in  P^og^*"^- 
a  well-organized  missionary  boarding-school  in 
the  Orient: 

A   DAY'S   PROGRAM   AT   KEMENDINE 

A.M. 

5.30     Rising  bell.     Six  o'clock,  one  teacher  goes  to  buy 

the  food  for  the  day. 
5.50     Work  bell.     Manual  labor  for  one  hour  ;  sweeping 

of  all  buildings,  etc. 
6.50     Ten  minutes  to  clean  hands  and  make  tidy. 
7.00     First  school  session,  —  one  hour. 
8.00     Recess.     Bazaar  selling, — books,   paper,  pencils, 

etc. 
8.30     School  breakfast  and  dish-washing.    (.A.fter  break- 
fast, one   teacher  comes  to  assist  at   the  dis- 
pensary.) 
9.30     Chapel  worship. 
9.45     Recitation. 
10.30     Drill  with  small  children. 
10.45     Recitation. 
11.30     Drill  with  larger  girls. 
11.45     Recitation. 
12.30     Noon  recess. 

P.M. 

1.15     Bible  classes. 

2.00  to  3.30     Recitations. 


100     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

3.30  Sewing  school. 

4.'J0  Praying,  singing;  dismissal  at -i.GO. 

5.30  Play,  supper. 

6.30  Study. 

7.45  First  bell  for  children  to  retire ;  8.00,  in  bed. 

8.15  First  bell  for  older  girls  to  retire. 

8.30  All  lights  out. 

On  Saturday  mornings  all  our  girls  turn  out 
for  about  two  hours'  work  about  the  place, 
—  pulling  weeds,  raking  leaves,  wasliing  school 
pillow-cases,  etc.  And  when  this  is  done 
and  breakfast  over,  all  our  normal  girls  (over 
thirty)  are  required,  because  of  the  government, 
to  have  a  half-day's  school  session.  This  is 
Saturday.  So  you  will  observe  the  days  are  very 
fully  occu[)ied.  This  is  but  the  regular  order 
of  daily  life  at  Kemendine,  but  does  not  con- 
vey any  idea  of  all  the  extra  odd  jobs  that  must 
be  crowded  in, — petty  repairs,  renewals,  er- 
rands, preparations  for  sewing-school,  sickness 
now  and  then,  oversight  of  the  dormitory  and 
school,  housekeeping,  tonic  sol-fa  classes,  build- 
ings to  be  looked  after,  accounts,  government 
correspondence,  and  innumerable  other  tilings. 

Aside  from  the  book-learning  to  be  imbibed 
in  these  schools,  there  is  a  large  amount  of  train- 
ing in  domestic  science.  In  fact,  these  mission- 
ary schoolraa'ams  may  fairly  claim  to  be  the 
pioneers  in  the  New  Education.  While  the 
schools  in  the  home  land  were  still  bowing 
down  in  the  blind  worship  of  three  R's,  these 
progressive  ladies,  spurred  ou  by  the  necessity, 


3IISSI0NARIES  AT    WORK  101 

were  finding  that  hand- work  seemed  a  power- 
ful stimulus  to  brain-work,  and  that  children 
taught  to  do  things  actually  learned  better  than 
those  who  pored  over  their  books  the  whole  time. 
Hence  object-lessons,  expression  work,  manual 
training,  domestic  art,  were  flourishing  in  mis- 
sions before  ever  fads  and  frills  began  to  agitate 
a  scandalized  and  belated  public  at  home. 

The  report  of  one  missionary  reads  as  follows  : 

"  The  girls  of  our  school  do  all  the  housework  them- 
selves :  they  prepare  the  grain  and  cook  their  o\m  food, 
draw  the  water  from  a  deep  well,  sweep  their  dormitories 
and  the  front  and  back  yards  every  day.  They  have  a 
thorough  house-cleaning  every  Saturday.  They  also  do 
all  their  own  sewing.  This  work,  in  addition  to  their 
studies  and  fancy  work,  keeps  them  very  busy. 

"  Another  thing  the  girls  do,  they  buy  their  own  earthen 
plates  to  eat  out  of,  and  their  combs  from  the  money  they 
earn  by  doing  little  jobs  for  my  mother  and  myself,  for 
which  we  pay  each  at  3  pice  an  hour.  Besides,  many  of 
the  girls,  by  extra  study  and  perseverance,  earn  merit 
scholarships.  This  is  money  awarded  by  the  government 
to  certain  deserving  girls  at  the  rate  of  Rs.  1.80  and  Rs.  2 
each  per  month,  to  encourage  and  enable  them  to  con- 
tinue their  studies." 

How  school  discipline  seems  to  the  pupils  is 
revealed  in  the  following  letters  written  by  a 
Karen  schoolgirl  to  her  mother,  the  only  edu- 
cated woman  in  her  village  : 

"  TouxGOO,  BrR:\rA. 
"  My  dear  Mother  :  It  is  very  hot  down  here  in  the 
plain.     I  do  wish  the  rains  would  come  down  so  that  it 
might  be  cooler.     Still,  I  am  glad  to  be  here,  for  now  I 


102     WES  TERN  WOMEN  IN  EA  STERN  LA  NDS 

can  attend  the  town  school.  We  arrived  Saturday  morn- 
ing, and  I  saw  for  the  first  time  the  big  town  chapel,  the 
*  teachers'  and  mamas' '  ^  houses,  the  boys'  dormitory,  and 
also  our  own,  whicli  is  next  to  mama's  house. 

"  I  don't  feel  as  if  I  described  things  very  well.  There 
is  nothing  like  seeing.  If  you  could  only  come  down  to 
the  city  sometime,  you  might  see  for  yourself  how  things 
seemed  to  me  as  we  came  in  Saturday  morning.  In  the 
afternoon  we  went  to  the  bazaar,  and  I  bought  my  cup 
and  plate,  which  I  then  took  to  the  dining  hall,  where  it 
is  kept  all  the  time.  The  dining  liall  is  a  building  with 
only  one  room  in  it.  It  has  several  windows,  one  door, 
a  cement  floor,  and  two  cement  tables,  one  for  the  boys 
and  one  for  us  girls. ^  The  plates  and  cups  are  placed  on 
one  of  these  tables,  then  the  rice  is  brought  in  and  put  on 
the  plates,  and  the  curry  is  put  into  tlie  cups.  "When  all 
this  is  ready,  the  bell  in  the  big  chapel  strikes  three 
strokes,  which  means  that  we  are  to  come  immediately. 
After  five  minutes  it  strikes  again,  and  the  door  is  then 
closed,  while  a  blessing  is  asked  by  the  teacher  in  charge, 
or  one  of  the  boys,  after  which  we  eat  our  rice  and  curry. 
It  seems  so  strange  for  each  to  have  his  own  plate  and 
cup  instead  of  all  eating  from  the  same  dish,  as  we  do 
at  home.  When  we  are  through  eating,  all  the  dishes 
are  washed  in  water  and  tipped  on  shelves  to  dry.  One 
of  the  girls  told  me  that  last  year  some  burglars  broke  in 
and  stole  a  lot  of  dishes,  and  some  of  the  pupils  cried  be- 
cause they  had  not  money  to  buy  new  ones.  I  felt  so 
sorry  for  them,  and  asked  how  they  got  along  then,  and 
she  said  that  the  '  teachers  and  mamas '  bought  some 
and  lent  them. 

"  June  2.  —  This  is  Saturday  afternoon.  We  have  had 
two  heavy  showers,  and  I  am  glad  to  say  it  is  some  cooler. 

1  Mama  is  the  name  given  in  India  to  missionary  ladies. 

2  Each  table  is  raised  about  8  or  10  inches  higher  than  the 
rest  of  the  floor,  by  which  the  children  sit  Turk  fashion 
while  they  eat. 


MISSIONARIES  AT  WORK  103 

This  morning  it  was  bright,  and  all  our  things  were  put 
out  to  air,  and  the  rooms  thoroughly  swept,  but  now  every- 
thing is  put  back  again  and  some  of  the  girls  have  settled 
down  to  sewing. 

"  School  calls  at  eight  o'clock  every  morning,  but  Satur- 
days we  only  meet  for  roll-call  unless  there  is  something 
special  on  hand,  so  I  am  told.     This  morning  the  work 
was  divided.     All  the  pupils  must  work  one  hour  in  the 
morning  and  one  at  night.     Some  pound  out  paddy,i  some 
clean  up  the   compound,  some  carry  water,  some  chop 
wood,  some  divide  the  rice   and  wash  the  dining  hall, 
some  wash  dishes,  and  some  work  in  the  mamas'  houses. 
My  work  for  this  month  is  to  help  wash  the  dishes.     After 
the  work  hour  is  over  in  the  morning,  we  all  eat  rice  and 
then  gather  in  the  chapel  for  roll-call.     That  is  just  ex- 
actly at  ten  minutes  to  eight  o'clock.     Everything  here  is 
done  by  that  big  clock  in  the  chapel.     It  rings  for  going 
to  bed  and  for  getting  up,  for  eating,  for  classes,  and  for 
worship.     By  the  way,  when  we  get  up  in  the  morning 
the  first  thing  we  do  is  to  wash  our  faces  and  comb  our 
hair.     Mama  tells  us  we  ought  to  read  the  Bible,    too, 
as  well  as  pray,  so  some  of  us  do  that,  but  some  of  the 
girls  get  up  without  even  washing  their  faces   and   go 
right  to  sewing.     Then  we  have  to  fold  up  our  blankets, 
and  by  that  time  the   bell  rings   again,  and  those  who 
pound  out  paddy  are  at   once  to  go  to  the  paddy   bin. 
Some  of  the   girls  are  not  ready,  but  mama  comes  out 
sometimes,  and  then  they  have  to   go.     Do  you  know, 
mother,  I  have  been  appointed  head  of  our  room  !     Oh, 
mother,  I  am  so  glad  that  I  can  write  this  to  you  and  that 
you  know  how  to  read  it.     There  is  not  another  girl  in 
school  that  has  such  a  good  mother  as  I  have,  and  I  am 
going  to  tell  you  what  I  learn.     But  just  now  I  have  no 
more  time.    I  will  write  again  soon. 
"  May  God  bless  you  all." 

1  Unhusked  rice. 


104     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 


Higher 
schools. 


Statistics 
of  mission- 
ary schools. 


Beginning  with  the  simplest  village  schools^ 
step  by  step  the  educational  work  has  progressed 
until  institutions  of  real  college  rank  have  been 
developed.  These  have  been  fully  studied  in 
the  survey  of  educational  missions  in  "  Gloria 
Christi,"  so  that  it  is  sutlicient  to  mention  a  few 
of  the  many :  Sara  Tucker  College  at  Palam- 
cotta,  Isabella  Thoburn  College  at  Lucknow, 
the  Sigra  Normal  College  at  Benares,  the 
American  College  for  Girls  at  Constantinople^ 
the  International  Institute  at  Madrid,  the  col- 
leges for  women  at  Peking  and  Foochow,  and 
Kobe  College,  Japan. 

In  village  schools  at  the  beginning  of  the 
century  there  were  more  than  nine  hundred 
thousand  pupils,  two-thirds  of  them  boys. 
There  were  four  thousand  Kindergarten  pupils. 
In  the  boarding  and  high  schools  there  were 
about  fifty  thousand  male  pupils  and  thirty-five 
thousand  female.  In  Cliina  and  Japan  the  girls 
were  more  numerous  than  boys,  in  India  the 
boys  much  more  numerous.  In  colleges  and 
universities  there  were  thirty-five  thousand 
students,  all  male  except  two  thousand.  In 
theological  schools  and  training-schools  for 
Christian  workers  there  were  eight  thousand 
men  and  three  thousand  women.  In  medical 
schools  four  hundred  men  and  two  hundred 
and  fifty  women  ;  in  all  educational  institutions 
put  together  there  were  more  than  one  million 
pupils,  of  whom  one-third  were  women. 


MISSIOXARIES  AT    WORK  105 

The  importance  of  this  teaching  work,  so  importance, 
largely  committed  into  the  hands  of  women,  is 
just  beginning  to  be  realized ;  for  the  work,  so 
far  as  it  relates  to  the  education  of  girls,  is  still 
in  its  infancy.  Half  of  our  fifty  years  was  spent 
in  convincing  parents  and  communities  that 
girls  could  learn  ;  and  education  for  w^omen  has 
only  gained  a  real  hold  on  the  affections  of  the 
people  within  the  last  ten  years.  In  these 
schools  (1)  We  have  the  greatest  evangelization 
agency  in  the  world :  "  It  is  simply  a  matter  of 
historical  fact,"  says  Stock,  in  his  history  of  the 
Church  Missionary  Society  (Vol.  I.,  p.  195), 
*'  that  more  converts  from  Hinduism  have  been 
gathered  into  the  Christian  Church  through  th^ 
influence,  direct  or  indirect,  of  the  schools  than 
by  any  other  one  instrumentality." 

(2)  We  have  the  mightiest  lever  for  over- 
turning low,  contemptuous,  and  tyrannical  ideas 
and  customs  concerning  women.  Twenty  years 
ago  the  boys  in  mission  schools  were  fond  of 
arguing  that  women  had  no  souls  and  could  not 
be  saved,  much  in  the  same  line  that  slave- 
holders used  to  argue  about  the  blacks.  The 
sight  of  girls  actually  doing  all  that  their  broth- 
ers do,  and  that  equally  well,  is  mentally  dis- 
turbing,—  is,  in  fact,  a  social  ferment  of  the 
most  violent  kind. 

(3)  The  education  of  girls  is  the  quickest 
method  of  elevating  the  home  life  of  the  East. 
These  educated  girls  make  better  mothers,  bet- 


106     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

ter  wives,  better  housekeepers,  than  their  un- 
trained sisters,  so  that  American  school-teachers^ 
whether  they  wish  or  not,  often  find  themselves 
running  very  flourishing  matrimonial  agencies, 
as  they  train  the  new  kind  of  wife  to  go  with 
the  new  Christian  home. 

C4)  In  the  schools  agencies  are  set  on  foot  to 
postpone  marriage,  to  better  the  physical  de- 
velopment of  the  girls,  to  protect  the  unmarried 
girl  from  contamination.  In  India  the  physical 
development  of  Christian  girls  is  already  evi- 
dently superior  to  that  of  the  non-Christian. 

(5)  The  schools  are  training  the  leaders  of 
the  future.  Most  of  the  new  women  of  the 
'Orient  who  are  making  such  a  wonderful  record 
for  themselves  received  their  training  in  some 
missionary  school. 
Work  in  the  The  conditions  that  surround  the  life  of 
women  in  the  Orient  very  early  forced  teachers 
out  of  the  schools  into  the  homes.  Marriages 
were  so  early  tliat  just  as  a  girl-child's  mind 
began  to  expand  she  was  removed  from  the 
school,  her  girlish  freedom  put  an  end  to,  and 
all  mental  progress  checked,  unless  the  school 
could  go  to  her.  There  seemed  a  vicious  circle 
in  w^iose  difficulties  they  were  enmeshed ;  there 
could  be  no  adequate  education  of  girls  on 
account  of  early  marriages  ;  but  early  marriage 
could  never  be  broken  up  until  the  women 
themselves  were  educated  to  see  the  hideous- 
ness  of  it.     Nothing  daunted  by  the  difficulties, 


home. 


MISSIONARIES  AT    WORK  107 

the  women  made  beginnings  with  individuals 
where  they  could,  and  from  these  attempts  have 
grown  up  the  training-classes  for  Bible  women 
and  the  zenana  work. 

The    origin    of  zenana  work  dates  far   back  in  zenanas, 
into  the  beginning  of  the  missionary  century. 
The  term  "zenana,"  strictly  speaking,  can   be 
applied  only  to  Indian  homes  ;  but  in  popular  use 
it  has  been  made  to  cover  the  enforced  seclusion 
of  women  in  zenana,  purdah,  harem,  anpang,  and 
the  like,  wherever  practised.     The  extreme  form 
is  found  in  Moslem  lands  and  among  the  aris- 
tocratic   portions  of  Indian  society.     So  rigid 
was  this  seclusion  in  earlier  times  that  it  was 
regarded   as   impossible    that    any    intercourse 
with  foreigners  should  ever  be  permitted  these 
hidden    ladies.     Indeed,    no   longer    ago    than 
1897,    an    instance    was   given   in   the   London 
Spectator  of  a  :\loslem  who,  rather  than  allow 
his  wife,  who  had  been  stricken  with  the  plague, 
to  be  removed  to  a  hospital,  shot  her  and  him- 
self.    The  term  "  zenana  "  may  suggest  Oriental 
luxury,  "  but,"  says  Lord  Kinnaird, 

"  the  reality  is  in  most  cases  dull  and  prosaic  in  the  ex- 
treme. Instead  of  a  mansion,  think  of  a  mud  building, 
probablj'  the  darkest  and  dirtiest  part  of  the  establish- 
ment. Do  not  imagine  the  inmates  are  attired  with 
Oriental  magnificence.  They  are  poorly  and  plainly  clad ; 
they  sit  on  the  floor,  and  therefore  but  little  furniture  is 
needed,  and  the  whole  place  is  more  suggestive  of  hope- 
less seclusion  of  the  prison  than  the  social  sunshine  of 
the  home.     And   in    these    dens   forty   millions   of   the 


108    WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

■women  of  India  are  kept  I  They  have  none  of  the  joy.s 
of  family  life,  for  the  women  never  gather  with  husband 
and  children.  They  are  practically  exchided  from  inter- 
course with  the  male  portion  of  the  household." 

In  these  bonds  of  enforced  isolation  from  the 
healthful  contact  with  community  life,  women 
were  enslaved.  If  ever  they  were  to  be  reached, 
it  must  be  in  the  home. 

It  seems  to  be  a  .matter  of  some  difficulty  to 
det'itlo  just  to  whom  the  credit  of  beginning 
zenana  work  is  due.  It  is  popularly  credited 
to  Mrs.  H.  C.  Mullens,  of  the  London  Mission- 
ary Society,  "  who,"  it  is  said,  "  opened  the  ze- 
nanas at  the  point  of  her  embroidery  needle." 
The  story  goes  that  Mrs.  Mullens,  who  was  very 
skilful  in  needlework,  had  just  completed  a 
pair  of  slippers  which  a  native  gentleman  calling 
upon  her  husband  saw  and  admired.  Upon  his 
expressing  a  wish  that  his  wife  could  learn  to 
do  such  work,  Mrs.  ^luUens  asked  and  obtained 
permission  to  call  upon  her  and  teach  her.  (An 
interesting  sketch  of  her  life  will  be  found  in 
Mrs.  Gracey's  "Eminent  Missionary  Women.") 

It  would  seem,  however,  that  Mrs.  John  Sale, 
a  friend  and  associate  of  Mrs.  Mullens,  actually 
preceded  her  in  this  undertaking  by  several 
years.  In  1834  Mrs.  Sale  obtained  access  to  a 
gentleman's  house  in  Jessore,  and  by  1858  was 
welcomed  to  several  zenanas  in  Calcutta.  It 
was  in  1861,  when  obliged  to  go  home  with  her 
husband  to  England,  that  she  turned  over  this 


MISSIONARIES  AT  WORK  109 

work  to  Mrs.  Mullens,  who  followed  up  the  un- 
dertaking with  vigor  and  remarkable  success. 
The  Society  for  promoting  Female  Education 
in  the  East  claims  an  even  earlier  origin  of  ze- 
nana visitation.  "  In  183-4  four  Hindu  gentle- 
men actually  consented  to  allow  a  lady  to  visit 
the  secluded  women  of  their  houses,  and  to 
teach  not  merely  needlework,  but  reading  from 
Christian  school-books."  The  Missionary  Re- 
view of  the  World,  ]\lay,  1895,  declares  that  the 
first  real  zenana  teaching  ever  attempted  was 
given  to  the  thirty  wives  and  royal  sisters  of 
the  King  of  Siam,  in  1851. 

Rev.  E.  Storrow,  in  his  volume  entitled 
*'  Our  Indian  Sisters,"  says  "  the  honor  of 
erecting  zenana  teaching  into  a  system,  of 
popularizing  it  by  public  advocacy  and  efficient 
practical  organization,  belongs  to  Mr.  Fordyce 
and  Dr.  Thomas  Smith."  Where  doctors  dis- 
agree, the  lay  mind  need  not  be  troubled  over 
minor  discrepancies.  The  truth  seems  to  be 
that,  in  several  cases,  individual,  friendly  visita- 
tion of  a  very  few  was  made  from  early  in  the 
century  ;  but  as  a  method  of  organized  work 
it  does  not  go  back  of  the  fifties. 

As  the  possibilities  of  this  new  type  of  work  Deveiop- 
were  seen,  its  practice  was  constantly  extended,    zenana 
Owing  to  the  large   numbers    of   workers   re-  work, 
quired,  zenana  work  will  always  be  expensive. 
Where  the  stations  are  undermanned  (a  chronic 
condition)  there  will  always  be  a  question  on 


110     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 


the  part  of  the  Boards  of  the  advisability  of 
detailing  missionaries  to  a  work  where  compara- 
tively few  can  be  reached,  and  where  the  re- 
sults are  often  not  to  be  tabulated  in  reports. 
The  zenana  women,  too,  are  fewer  numerically, 
and  their  needs  less  striking  than  those  of 
their  poorer  sisters.  Results  are  often  disap- 
pointing, and  many  minds  are  unable  to  appre- 
ciate the  value  of  the  work  really  accomplished. 
For  all  these  reasons  advance  in  zenana  work 
has  not  been  as  rapid  as  could  have  been  desired. 

Methods.  How  do  they  begin  ?     Wherever  there  is  the 

tiniest  crack  in  the  closed  door  of  the  Oriental 
high-class  home,  they  go  to  teach  embroidery 
or  English,  to  read  a  book,  to  show  some  pic- 
ture of  strange,  far-away  America,  to  comfort  a 
mourning  mother.  Whatever  the  errand,  tlie 
little  Bible  goes  too,  and  the  call  ends  with 
that.  Hundreds  of  these  shut-in  ladies  learn 
to  read  their  Bibles  and  to  love  them,  whose 
names  can  never  be  counted  in  any  census  of 
native  Christians.  As  the  missionary  visits, 
friendships  are  made,  new  ideals  are  formed,  a 
big  new  world  of  thought  and  action  is  dimly 
seen,  a  breath  of  fresh  air  stirs  the  stagnant  pool 
of  life.  Exquisite  tact  and  sympathy  must  be 
the  portion  of  the  successful  zenana  worker ; 
patience  with  stunted  minds  and  sluggish  wills, 
and  love  of  the  Master  who  gave  the  parable  of 
the  hidden  leaven. 

Importance.        Tlie  importance  of  this  work  within  the  home 


MISSIONARIES  AT    WORK  111 

cannot  be  exaggerated.      Many  incidents  will 
occur  to  any  one  familiar  with  missionary  history 
in  support  of  this  statement.     A  young  Brah- 
man,    for  instance,  educated  in  a  government 
college,  had  broken  entirely  with  the  supersti- 
tions of  his  old  faith,  chafed  at  the  bondage  of 
caste,  longed  to  organize  his  home  on  modern 
lines  of  freedom.     But  after  his  marriage,  rather 
than    endure    the    constant    reproaches    of    his 
mother,  the  entreaties  of  his  wife,  and  the  con- 
sternation of  his  entire  family  circle,  he  aban- 
doned one  by  one  his  advanced  ideas  and  accepted 
once  more  the  old  yoke  of  bondage.     One  mis- 
sionary tells  of  his  teacher  who  for  years  was 
deterred  from  the   open  confession   of    Christ, 
by  his  belief  that  his  old  mother  would  certainly 
commit  suicide  to  express  the  bitterness  of  her  re- 
sentment over  so  dreadful  a  step.     Now  if  these 
hidden  sources  of  conservatism  can  be  reached, 
the  real  obstacles  that  keep  thousands  of  the  lead- 
ing men  in  the  Orient  from  publicly  accepting 
Christianity  will  be  removed.     These  ladies  of 
position    too,    exercise    as    great   an    influence 
in  Oriental  life  as    do  social  leaders  at  home. 
Zenana  work  helps  to  permeate  the  most   in- 
fluential   quarters    with    correct    ideas    about 
Christianity,  and  with  its  ideals  and  teachings. 

One  of  the  twentieth-century  outcomes  of  the   Zenana. 

y        ,  1  parties. 

zenana  work  is  the  zenana  party.  Jn  ttiese 
some  of  the  daring  missionaries  have  invited 
hundreds  of  these  secluded  ladies  to  a  party  of 


112     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

their  very  own.  There  are  many  details  to  be 
arranged:  jealous  husbands  must  be  assured  of 
the  privacy  of  the  affair,  qualms  of  families  must 
be  removed,  an  entertainment  provided  for  the 
guests.  This  may  consist  of  a  stereopticon, 
songs  by  the  Christian  schoolgirls,  a  bit  of 
travel  talk,  then  the  privilege  of  walking,  quite 
safe  from  fear  of  any  peering  masculine  eyes,  in 
the  moonlit  garden  of  the  mission  compound,  a 
vast  expanse  when  comi)ared  to  the  tiny  court- 
yard of  their  houses.  The  question  of  refresh- 
ments is  perhaps  the  most  serious  :  the  strict 
caste  women  could  eat  nothing,  some  of  the  more 
liberal  might  sip  a  little  tea,  but  all  had  the 
fearful  pleasure  of  feeling  that  they  were  jeop- 
ardizing their  souls'  salvation  by  this  daring 
revelry. 

Though  these  parties  have  proved  widely 
popular,  the  guests  have  strange  ceremonies  to 
undergo  to  cleanse  them  from  the  contamina- 
tion of  each  gathering.  "  Some  sit  for  hours 
each  day  in  a  tub  of  water,  others  take  a  pill 
made  of  the  hair  and  milk  of  the  sacred  cow, 
mixed  with  other  and  nameless  ingredients. 
Washing  and  spriid-cling  with  lime  juice,  beat- 
ing the  tom-tom  and  wearing  holy  beads  are 
among  some  of  the  many  strange  manoeuvres 
resorted  to." 

A  Mohammedan  lady,  after  seeing  the  stereop- 
ticon  slides  at  such  a  party  told  her  family  that 
she  saw  "  buildings,  animals,  flowers,  trees,  men. 


these 
parties. 


MISSIOXARIES  AT   WORK  113 

women,  the  moon,  the  stars,  the  sun,  clouds, 
lightning  ;  that  there  was  nothing  more  for  her 
to  see  but  God.  If  she  saw  Him,  her  life  would 
be  finished."  (See  references  for  charming 
description  of  these  parties.) 

It  was  a  gracious  thought  of  a  loving  heart  Value  of 
that  first  plan  of  bringing  together  these  poor 
shut-ins  of  the  '-Four  Hundred"  in  Hindu 
society.  The  sociological  value  of  such  gather- 
ings is  very  great.  Here  Hindu  and  Moslem  and 
Christian  meet  for  the  first  time  in  social  and 
delightful  converse.  Here  a  new  world  is 
opened  by  the  stereopticon  and  the  travel  talk. 
Here  real  university  extension  principles  can  be 
put  into  play.  Quite  simply,  with  no  argumen- 
tation, the  bonds  of  caste  are  gently  loosened  a 
trifle,  the  crack  in  the  door  to  the  women's  world 
is  widened  a  little,  and  by  the  way  of  Christian 
song,  hearty  and  joyous,  room  for  the  gospel  of 
life  is  gained.  Miss  Grace  Stevens  of  Madras  is 
perhaps  the  best-known  exponent  of  the  zenana 
party  idea. 

The  limitation  of  the  closed  door  is  rapidly  Limitaticru 
giving  way;  the  limitation  of  expense  remains. 
Zenana  visitation  must  always  remain  a  very 
costly  form  of  work ;  since  the  number  of  families 
that  can  be  visited  by  one  person  regularly  and 
frequently  is  necessarily  limited.  Each  mission- 
ary can,  however,  train  a  certain  number  of 
helpers  who  shall  multiply  her  influence  many 
fold.     This  possibility  of  training  Bible  women 


114     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EA  STERN  LA NDS 


Bible 
womea. 


Training 
of  the  Bible 
woman. 


to  extend  and  follow  up  the  zenana  work  of  the 
missionary  is  more  clearly  recognized  than  ever 
before. 

The  Bible  woman  has  become  an  institution. 
Her  work  is  indispensable ;  she  multiplies  the 
missionary's  influence,  goes  before  to  prepare 
the  way,  and  after  to  impress  the  truth.  One 
of  the  humblest,  she  is  at  the  same  time  one  of 
the  mightiest  forces  of  the  Cross  in  non-Christian 
lands.  She  is  first  of  all  an  evangelist.  From 
door  to  door  she  goes,  repeating  portions  of 
Scripture,  or  reading  the  Bible,  singing  hymns, 
praying,  telling  her  own  personal  experience  of 
God's  goodness.  She  may  be  the  only  Christian 
woman  in  a  village.  She  may  teach  the  little 
village  school,  she  may  nurse  the  sick  in  seasons 
of  pestilence,  she  may  gather  together  a  Sunday- 
school,  she  may  teach  needlework  and  reading  to 
the  shut-in  women  of  the  zenanas. 

The  work  of  the  Bible  woman  began  very 
naturally  in  the  desire  of  converted  women  to 
tell  their  neighbors  and  friends  the  glad  tidings. 
Sometimes  older  women  or  widows  were  found 
who  could  give  up  their  whole  time  to  the  work, 
so  quite  naturally  began  the  training  of  these 
women  for  greater  efficiency.  Sometimes  the 
training  consisted  in  teaching  a  few  Scripture 
verses  and  hymns ;  and  really  wonderful  work 
for  God  has  been  done  by  Bible  women  unable 
to  read,  with  the  most  rudimentary  knowledge 
of  the  Faith,  but  with  a  real  experience  and  the 


MISSIONARIES  AT   WORK  115 

desire  to  share  it.  As  the  need  for  trained 
workers  developed,  the  custom  grew  of  gather- 
ing a  group  of  Christian  women  willing  to  do 
personal  work  among  their  non-Christian  neigh- 
bors into  the  house  of  the  missionary  for  a  few 
weeks  or  months  of  training.  The  course  of 
study  was  Bible  lessons  first  and  foremost,  with 
lessons  on  health  and  home-making  and  some 
simple  handicrafts.  If  little  children  had  to 
come  too,  they  were  brought,  and  school  car- 
ried on  as  well  as  might  be  under  the  circum- 
stances. From  that  simple  beginning  have 
grown  real  training-schools  for  Bible  women. 
Such  a  one  is  the  Lucy  Perry  Noble  Bible 
School  in  ^Madura,  India. 

The  course  of  study  in  this  school  includes  the  Cour^se  of 
life  of  Christ,  Old  Testament  history,  the  Acts 
of  the  Apostles,  and  also  book  study  of  the  Pen- 
tateuch, two  of  the  prophets,  John's  Gospel,  and 
two  Epistles.  Simple  lessons  in  geography 
and  church  history  are  given.  Since  Hindu 
religious  observances  are  based  on  astrology 
largely,  the  simplest  facts  of  astronomy  are 
taught  to  help  free  the  women  from  supersti- 
tion, and  to  open  to  them  the  starry  world. 
Physiology  and  hygiene,  a  study  of  methods 
of  work,  singing,  and  practice  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  missionary  in  house-to-house  visita- 
tion, tent  work,  village  itinerating,  Sunday- 
school,  women's  meetings,  Christian  Endeavor, 
sewing-school,  etc. 


IIG    WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

Instances.  One  missionary  reports  that  twenty  Chinese 

women  had  attended  her  training-scliool,  learned 
to  read,  committed  to  memory  Psahn  xci,  Mat- 
thew V  and  vii,  Proverbs  xxxi,  10-31,  Revelation 
vii,  xxi,  and  xxii,  and  had  lessons  in  arithmetic 
and  composition  work.  Some  of  the  questions 
discussed  b}'  the  women  in  their  compositions 
were:  '•'•  Chinese  reform — tv hat  part  has  woman 
in  it?^^  '*  What  customs  ought  to  be  chawjedf'^ 
'"'' Patience.''''      '•'■How  to  study  the  Bible.''^ 

One  Hible  woman's  yearly  report  showed  more 
than  five  religious  services  a  week- with  an  at- 
tendance of  4008,  two  thousand  women  taught 
to  read  Bible  verses,  five  thousand  hearers,  four 
familii's  led  to  Christ,  and  thirteen  women  in- 
duced to  unbind  their  feet. 

There  is  old  "  Auntie."  Iler  eyes  are  so  faded 
that  she  can  read  only  the  largest  characters,  but 
her  heart  pants  to  learn  the  teaching,  so  pain- 
fully, one  character  at  a  time,  she  works  her  way 
through  Joiin,  the  Acts,  the  Catechism,  Prov- 
erbs, two  hundred  hymns.  She  goes  back,  the 
•  only  Christian  woman  in  the  village. 

Ding  Itai  is  sixty  years  old,  wealthy,  well- 
educated.  For  thirty-nine  years  she  has  been  a 
most  zealous  idol-worshipper.  She  was  cured 
of  illness  in  the  mission  hospital  and  is  now  an 
ardent  Christian.     She  has  read  the  entire  Bible. 

Another  keeps  her  house,  does  full  Bible 
woman's  work,  and  helps  her  husband  teach  a 
night-school  of  sixty-five  pupils. 


MISSIONARIES  AT   WORK  117 

Another  reports  that  she  has  taught  the  women 
of  little  mountain  villages  to  read  the  book  of 
Bible  verses,  to  pray,  to  keep  the  Sabbath,  and 
to  make  unbound-feet  shoes.  She  has  destroyed 
idols,  prayed  with  the  sick,  where  people  had 
never  yet  seen  the  face  of  a  missionary. 

There  are  many  strong  points  to  recommend  Advantages, 
the  growing  use  of  the  Bible  woman  in  all  the 
mission  fields.  She  knows  every  turn  and  twist 
of  the  native  mind.  She  speaks  the  mother- 
tongue,  can  interpret  by  her  own  sorrows  the 
burdens  under  which  these  women  live.  She  is 
the  best  object  lesson  of  the  intellectual  awaken- 
ing and  moral  regeneration  effected  by  her  own 
Christianity.  She  gets  at  small  groups  again 
and  again  in  their  everyday  life.  She  has  ac- 
cess where  the  foreigner  cannot  come.  She  is 
the  best  interpreter  of  the  missionary  to  the 
people.  Her  home  life  is  a  daily  illustration 
of  the  superiority  of  the  Gospel.  In  this  work 
an  outlet  is  given  to  the  pent-up  energies  of 
the  strongest  individualities  ;  and  an  honorable 
means  of  self-support  is  provided  in  lands  where 
so  few  doors  are  open  to  women. 

One  of  the  striking  developments  of  the  worn-  The  woman 
an's  century  was  the  entrance  of  women  into  Physician, 
the  practice  of  medicine.  Their  first  step  in  this 
direction  met  with  bitter  opposition.  In  1849 
Elizabeth  Blackwell  was  admitted  to  study  med- 
icine in  Geneva,  after  knocking  in  vain  at  the 
doors  of  twelve  medical  colleges.     This  great 


118     WESTERN  WO^fEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

woman,  looking  out  over  the  few  overcrowded 
avenues  of  employment  open  to  women,  had  re- 
solved to  "  open  a  new  door,  to  tread  a  fresh 
path."  The  story  of  her  resolute  overcoming  of 
hateful  persecution  and  terril)le  obstacles,  of  her 
conquest  for  herself  of  the  best  medical  educa- 
tion, is  one  of  the  romances  of  biography.  Those 
who  are  inclined  to  give  the  clergy  a  monopoly 
in  conservatism  and  blind  opposition  to  progress, 
should  read  the  story  of  the  obstacles  put  in  the 
w.ay  of  pioneer  women  physicians  by  the  medi- 
cal profession.  In  1859  tlie  Philadelphia  Medi- 
cal Society  passed  a  resolution  of  excommunica- 
tion against  any  doctor  who  lectured  or  taught 
in  the  Women's  Medical  College,  and  against 
every  graduate  of  that  institution.  Yet,  in  spite 
of  opposition,  within  six  years  after  Elizabeth 
Blackwell  graduated  at  Geneva,  the  first  Wom- 
en's Hospital  in  all  the  world  had  been  founded 
by  Dr.  Sims  in  New  Yoi'k,  and  the  first  perma- 
nent Woman's  College  of  Medicine  had  been 
organized  in  Philadelphia. 
Providential  We  cannot  pursuc  the  story  of  this  chapter  in 
prepaiatiou.  ^\^q  expanding  life  of  women  further  than  to 
note  its  bearing  on  foreign  missions.  These 
lion-hearted  pioneers  in  the  field  of  medicine 
were  blazing  a  trail  whose  importance  they  little 
dreamed.  If  the  contracted  ideas  of  propriety 
held  by  the  vast  majority  of  men  and  women  in 
the  civilized  world  of  that  time  had  triumphed, 
one  of  the  most  powerful  agencies  in  the  Chris- 


MISSIONARIES  AT    WORK  119 

tian  conquest  of  the  world  w'ould  have  been 
wanting.  Whether  there  were  to  be  women  phy- 
sicians was  a  question  of  interest  in  America : 
but  in  Asia  it  was  a  question  of  life  and  death. 
The  women  of  half  the  world  were  shut  out 
from  medical  assistance  unless  they  could  re- 
ceive it  at  the  hands  of  women.  So  with  God 
and  nature  leading  them,  the  women  pioneers 
pressed  out  into  the  untried  path;  hundreds  of 
more  timid  souls  followed  them,  and  the  protest- 
ing old  world  settled  back  grumbling  to  get 
used  to  the  new  situation. 

It  is  a  singular  fact  that  scientific  medicine  Need  of 
has  been  developed  only  in  Christian  countries,  j^issions. 
From  the  very  beginning  Christianity  has  been 
a  healing  as  well  as  a  teaching  religion.  "When 
that  Babe  was  born,"  says  Edward  Bok,  "  there 
was  not  in  the  whole  town  of  Bethlehem,  or 
in  the  city  of  Jerusalem,  a  hospital  in  which 
the  mother  could  have  found  shelter.  There 
was  not  that  night  in  the  whole  populated  world 
a  single  roof  to  whose  shelter  the  sick  and 
dying  could  be  taken  without  pay,  not  one." 
From  the  first  Christmas  until  now  there  has 
flowed  through  the  world  a  new  river  of  pity, 
on  whose  bank  on  either  side  are  trees  of  life  for 
the  healing  of  the  nations.  The  new  estimate 
of  mother  and  child,  the  fresh  valuation  of  the 
individual,  the  growing  sense  of  brotherhood, 
have  united  to  produce  modern  hospitals,  nurses, 
physicians,  and  medical    investigators.     In  no 


120     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

non-Christian  land  were  these  found  wlien  the 
organized  work  of  women  began  ;  even  to-day 
these  agencies  abound  only  where  Western  in- 
stitutions have  been  transplanted. 

The  vagaries  and  cruelties  of  oriental  medical 
practice  are  beginning  to  be  well  known :  the 
loathsome  compounds,  the  burnings,  brandings, 
poundings,  the  absence  of  all  knowledge  of 
anatomy,  the  positive  neglect  of  the  sick,  the 
superstitious  dread  of  the  dying,  the  frightful 
malpractice  in  childbirth,  the  absence  of  all 
sanitary  precautions  in  surgery. 

Each  nation  had  its  own  specialties  in  medical 
oddities  and  cruelties.  llie  Chinese  medical 
student  committed  to  memory  three  hundred 
places  in  the  body  through  which  skewers 
might  be  driven  with  safety  (one  of  these  was 
the  lungs).  All  diseases  were  divided  into  in- 
side and  outside;  some  doctors  undertook  to 
cure  one,  some  the  other,  and  some  rashly  prom- 
ised to  cure  both.  No  dissections  were  per- 
mitted so  that  the  imagination  ran  riot  as  to  the 
distribution  and  function  of  internal  organs. 

The  Koreans  had  a  fondness  for  running  in 
red-hot  needles,  making  ugly  ulcers,  ordering 
boiled  chips  from  coffins  as  a  sovereign  cure  for 
catarrh,  and  a  jelly  made  from  the  bones  of  a 
'man  recently  killed  as  good  for  ana3mia.  The 
following  quotations  from  a  Chinese  medical 
journal  are  made  in  Dr.  Williamson's  treatise 
on  Medical  Missions:  — 


MISSIONARIES  A  T  WORK  121 

"Flies  are  of  great  use  to  man,  for  their  heads  when 
pounded  and  used  as  a  pomade  form  au  infallible  hair 
restorer  for  the  head,  beard,  and  eyebrows.  .  .  .  Bats  are 
harmless  and  of  great  value  to  medicine.  Their  flesh 
applied  as  a  poultice  is  a  sovereign  cure  for  the  stings  of 
scorpions ;  roasted  and  eaten,  they  dry  up  the  excess  of 
saliva  in  infants.  .  .  .  There  is  nothing  better  for  that 
dangerous  disease,  lethargy,  than  to  put  fleas  into  the 
patient's  ears."  Speaking  of  bedbugs,  —  "  certain  devout 
and  religious  people  have  been  known  to  put  those 
animals  into  their  beds  that  they  might  be  more  wakeful 
and  contemplate  divine  things.  ...  One  purpose  of 
their  creation,  doubtless,  was  to  keep  us  from  pride,  .  .  . 
but  the  main  object  of  the  creation  of  bugs  was  the 
benefit  of  the  sick.  They  are  of  remarkable  efficacy  in 
the  hysteria  of  females,  if  one  puts  them  in  the  patient's 
nose.  .  .  .  Seven  bugs  taken  in  barley  water  are  of 
great  value  in  quaking  ague  and  for  the  bites  of 
scorpions."  The  writer  above  quoted  adds,  "  Heaven  has 
certainly  been  bountiful  to  China  and  well  stocked 
Nature's  dispensary." 

More  harmless  and  perhaps  more  efficacious 
methods  are  the  superstitious  burning  of  charms, 
ringing  of  bells,  wearing  of  amulets,  beating  of 
gongs,  offerings  of  food  and  drink.  A  governor 
in  Palestine  whose  son  was  ill  had  him  swallow 
ink  washed  from  a  plate  where  the  name  "Allah" 
had  been  written  a  great  many  times.  A  quaint 
remedy  for  dog-bite  is  to  draw  a  circle  around 
the  wound  and  write  "  tiger  "  on  it.  Will  not 
dogs  flee  from  tigers  ? 

A  sick  child  in  Arabia  has  a  hole  burnt  in 
his  tender  skin  to  let  the  disease  out.  Dr.  Hall 
describes  the  visit  of  a  Korean  physician  to  a 


122     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 


Needs  of 
women. 


SafFerinfrsiii 
childbirth. 


sick  child  who  burnt  a  brown  powder  on  the 
breast  of  the  screaming  child,  stuck  a  darning 
needle  through  each  foot,  the  liands,an(l  the  lips. 

While  volumes  might  be  written  in  regard  to 
the  evils,  absurdities,  and  cruelties  of  the  medical 
systems  of  the  non-Christian  world,  the  full  hor- 
ror of  the  situation  would  only  be  reached  when 
the  sufferings  of  women  and  children  were  told. 
Thousands  of  women  die  annually  because  such 
help  as  might  be  given  them  cannot  be  had  on 
account  of  the  restricted  conditions  of  their 
lives.  A  physician  walking  in  the  streets  of  a 
city  in  India  recently  heard  the  screams  of  a 
woman  coming  from  a  line  native  house.  He 
asked  a  servant  to  say  to  the  master  of  the 
house  that  a  i)hysician  was  passing  by  who 
would  gladly  be  of  service.  The  man  returned 
answer  that  he  would  rather  his  wife  should  die 
than  be  relieved  by  a  male  physician. 

The  ministering  to  women  is  left  to  ignorant, 
fdthy,  and  often  immoral  midwives  or  "  lialf- 
doctors,"  as  they  are  called  in  India.  The 
suffering  of  mothers  at  their  hands  beggars  de- 
scription. Sometimes  even  this  aid  is  denied, 
and  the  girl-mother  is  left  frightened  and  alone 
in  her  hour  of  need.  The  Missionary  Revieio  of 
the  Worlds  September,  1895,  describes  the  bar- 
barities of  a  Hindu  woman's  confinement :  — 


"  Every  step  of  her  treatment  has  been  laid  down  in 
their  sacred  book.  For  the  first  three  days  she  has  been 
deprived  of   food  and  drink,  and  on  the  third  allowed 


MISSIOXARIES  AT    WORK  128 

one  grain  of  rice.  Her  room  iias  been  prepared  by  plac- 
ing her  in  the  darkest  and  dirtiest  room  of  the  house,  with 
the  most  filthy  of  rags,  on  a  mad  floor  for  her  bed.  A 
cow's  skull  painted  red,  an  image  of  Sasthi,  the  goddess 
who  presides  over  the  destiny  of  women  and  children, 
...  is  placed  in  a  conspicuous  position.  This  and  the 
pot  of  smouldering  charcoal,  the  only  furniture,  are  placed 
there  to  expel  the  evil  spirits  hovering  around.  During 
her  three  weeks  of  uncleanliness  neither  father,  mother, 
husband,  nor  sister  can  come  nigh  her,  leaving  her  to  the 
care  of  the  barber's  wife.  On  the  fifth  day  the  filthy 
clothing  is  removed  and  the  room  cleaned,  as  on  the  next 
is  to  be  the  worship  of  Sasthi,  and  that  night  Vidhata 
will  write  on  the  cliild's  forehead  the  main  events  of  his 
life.  The  day  has  arrived,  Sasthi  has  been  worshipped. 
The  woman  has  been  given  a  cold  bath,  all  necessary 
arrangements  for  Vidhata's  visit  have  been  made ;  food 
consisting  of  coarse  graham  flour  and  coarser  brown 
sugar,  equal  parts,  wet  and  kneaded  together,  to  be  eaten 
raw,  has  been  prepared  for  the  famished  mother;  but 
both  mother  and  child  are  unconscious  and  the  foreign 
doctor  is  called  to  bring  them  back  to  life." 

Isabella  Bird  Bishop  probably  saw  more  of 
the  home  life  of  the  Orient  in  many  lands  than, 
any  other  European  woman.  Her  testimony 
in  regard  to  the  need  of  medical  missions  and 
the  sufferings  of  women  is  positive  and  unim- 
peachable :  — 

"  In  the  case  of  women,  and  especially  of  the  secluded 
women,  the  barbarities  inflicted  by  those  who  profess  to 
attend  them  in  sickness  cannot  be  related  in  such  an 
audience.  It  is  enough  to  say  that  native  midwifery 
abounds  in  ignorant  and  brutal  customs  which  in  thou- 
sands of  cases  produce  life-long  suffering  and,  in  many, 
fatal  results.     It  is  not  unusual  in  polygamous  households 


124    WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

for  discarded  or  uncared-for  wives  to  bribe  the  midwife 
to  inflict  such  an  injury  upon  the  favorite  wife  as  shaU 
render  her  incapable  for  further  child-bearing. 

"  In  Farther  India,  and  even  in  India,  it  is  usual  for 
midwives  to  jump  on  the  abdomen  of  the  mother  in  her 
agony,  or  to  put  a  plank  across  it  and  jumi^  on  the  ends 
of  the  plank,  in  order  to  accelerate  the  process  of  nature; 
and  in  one  of  your  own  mission  hospitals  in  northern 
India  which  I  visited  I  saw,  among  nine  patients,  five 
who  were  sulYering  from  severe  abscesses  and  internal 
injuries  produced  by  the  fracture  of  one  or  more  of  the 
false  ribs  under  this  barbarous  treatment.  And  thus,  in 
aggravated  agony,  the  curse  of  Eden  is  fulfilled  upon  the 
child-mothers  of  the  East.  It  is  customary  in  many 
parts  to  place  a  mother  after  childbirth  without  clothing, 
in  front  of  a  hot  fire  until  the  skin  oT  the  abdomen  is 
covered  with  severe  blisters,  after  which  she  is  plunged 
into  cold  water." 

Cai)  for  The  need  for  women  physicians  to  relieve  the 

physical  sufferings  of  their  own  sex  was  first 
perceived  and  first  emphasized  by  missionaries. 
Both  men  and  women  united  in  the  demand 
which  they  began  to  urge  upon  the  home 
churches;  the  men  found  themselves  barred  from 
practising  among  women  by  caste  and  custom  ; 
the  women,  teachers  and  missionaries,  had  daily 
pressing  upon  them  the  throngs  of  women  and 
little  children  who  came  to  get  help  from  the 
missionary  medicine  closet  that  was  a  part  of 
the  equipment  of  every  station.  These  women 
often  acquired  considerable  skill  in  prescribing 
for  minor  ailments,  and  in  caring  for  wounds 
and  burns;  but  found  themselves  helpless  before 


women 
physicians. 


MISSIONARIES  AT    WORK  125 

the  cases  that  demanded  the  services  of  a  fully 
trained  physician. 

Dr.  Duff,  early  in  the  century,  had  written:   Dr.  Duff's 
"  Every  educated    person   knows   the    peculiar  testimony, 
position  of  Hindu  women  of  the  upper  classes, 
how  they  are    entirely    secluded,  and   how    in 
their    case     an    ordinary   missionary    finds    no 
access.      But    a  female   missionary  who   knew 
something  of  medical  science  and  practice  would 
readily  find  access.   .   .   .     Would  to  God  that 
we    had    such    an    agency    ready    for    work." 
The  good   doctor  it  will  be  observed  had  not 
gone  farther  than  to  think  of  a  "  female  mission- 
ary who  knew  something  of  medical  science." 
The    conception   of    the    fully   trained   woman 
physician  had  not  yet  dawned. 

In  1852  Dr.  Dwigbt  of  Turkey  wrote  to  a  Dr.  Dwight 
lady  in  this  country  :  "I  want  to  say  to  you  that 
I  am  sure  that  female  missionary  physicians  of 
the  right  stamp  would  be  a  most  important 
auxiliary  in  the  mission  work  of  this  part  of  the 
world.  It  is  my  present  belief  that  a  well- 
taught  female  physician  in  this  place  would 
find  access  to  the  families  of  all  classes  of  the 
.   people  not  excepting  the  Mohammedans." 

The  first  response  came  from  a  woman,  Sarah  First 
J.  Hale,  of  Philadelphia.     The  editor  of  aode^'8  response. 
Lady's  Book  was  the  prophet  who  saw  from  afar 
this  marvellous  movement  in  the  coming  king- 
dom, to  which  the  men  and  women  of  her  gener- 
ation were   utterly  blinded   by   prejudice    and 


126    WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

indifference.  In  1851  she  organized  a  Ladies' 
Medical  Missionary  Society  whose  object  was 
"  to  aid  the  work  of  foreign  missions  by  sending 
out  young  women  qualified  as  physicians  to 
minister  to  the  wants  of  women  in  heathen 
lands."  She  wrote  editorials  in  the  Lady's 
Book, — the  Ladies''  Home  Journal  of  those 
days — corresponded  with  inlluential  people, 
and  lield  parlor  meetings.  A  few  clergymen 
expressed  tliemselves  in  sympathy  ;  two  young 
ladies  just  graduated  from  the  Women's  Medical 
College  were  ready  and  anxious  to  go,  but  the 
time  had  not  yet  come.  The  project  aroused  a 
storm  of  opposition  and  ridicule.  At  that  time 
the  old  superstitious  division  between  the  "spir- 
itual" and  the  "secular"  was  rigidly  maintained. 
It  was  felt  to  be  a  waste  of  precious  time  and 
money  to  send  missionaries  to  deal  with  any- 
thing but  tlie  perisliing  souls  of  men.  The  in- 
timate connection  between  the  soul  and  the 
body  was  not  fully  appreciated.  And  the  ex- 
ample of  the  Master  in  the  time  he  devoted  to 
relieving  bodily  distress  was  apparently  over- 
looked. Then  there  was  that  awful  bogy  of  a 
woman  going  out  of  her  sphere,  even  for  tlie 
saving  of  life.  So  Mrs.  Hale,  after  repeated 
efforts  to  storm  the  fort  of  public  prejudice, 
was  forced  to  postpone  the  desire  of  her  heart 
to  a  better  day.  For  twenty  years  she  waited 
to  see  the  church  begin  tardily  and  timidly  the 
task  that  should  have  been  begrun  in  1851. 


MISSIONARIES  AT  WORK  127 

Nothing  further  was  done  for  seventeen  Beginnings 
years;  then  in  India  itself  a  medical  missionary,  ^° 
Dr.  J.  L.  Humphrey,  began  to  deliver  a  course 
of  lectures  to  a  class  of  young  women  in  the 
orphanage  at  Bareilly.  The  initiative  in  this 
case  came  from  an  educated  Hindu  gentleman, 
Pundit  Nund  Kishore,  who  knew  the  dreadful 
suffering  of  women  in  childbirth  under  the 
malpractice  of  ignorant  midwives.  He  offered 
to  defray  half  the  expenses  of  training  these 
young  women  if  the  government  could  be  in- 
duced to  help.  The  governor  of  the  province 
regarded  the  matter  favorably,  but  so  much 
opposition  came  from  physicians  that  the  proj- 
ect seemed  likel}^  to  fall  through.  Then  a 
noble  English  official  became  personally  respon- 
sible for  the  amount  asked  from  the  govern- 
ment, and  the  first  class  of  nine  women  was 
opened  at  Naini  Tal,  May  1,  1889,  a  day  that 
ought  to  be  celebrated  by  the  women  of  India. 
A  two  years'  course  of  study  was  given  to  these 
women  ;  and  then  four  of  them  were  sent  up  to 
stand  the  government  examination.  So  much 
hung  upon  their  success  !  Every  one  said  that 
the  scheme  was  a  wild  one  ;  that  women  had 
neither  the  brains  nor  the  judgment  to  success- 
fully pass  tests  framed  for  men.  But  the  four 
timid  Indian  women  stood  bravely  before  the 
Board  of  English  Physicians  (one  of  them 
the  Inspector-general  of  Hospitals),  answered 
correctly    the    questions,    bore    themselves    so 


128    WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

quietly,  showed  such  thorougli  knowledge,  that 
they  won  the  Board  and  their  coveted  certifi- 
cates at  the  same  time.  They  were  certificated 
in  "Anatomy,  Midwifery,  Pharmacy,  and  the 
management  of  minor  surgical  cases,  including 
the  more  common  kinds  of  fractures  and  dis- 
locations." The  Bi)ard  testified  that  tliese 
young  women  *•'  answered  questions  with  quick- 
ness and  precision"  and  liad  a  knowledge  of 
medicine  and  surgery  "quite  equal  to  the  gen- 
erality of  locally  entertained  native  doctors." 

At  the  time  that  this  "lively  experiment"  was 
being  made  in  India,  Mrs.  Thomas  of  Bareilly 
was  writing  to  Mrs.  Gracey  asking  her  to  in- 
terest the  Philadelphia  Branch  of  the  Woman's 
Union  Missionary  Society  in  sending  out  a 
"medical  lady."  Mrs.  Gracey  read  the  letter 
which  described  the  experiment  with  the  native 
class  at  Naini  Tal  at  one  of  the  regular  meet- 
ings of  the  Branch.  We  can  well  imagine 
the  joy  of  Mrs.  Hale,  who  was  at  the  time 
president  of  tlie  Society,  when  she  heard  the 
plan  which  she  had  cherished  for  nearly  twenty 
years  proposed  and  seemingly  about  to  be 
realized.  Inquiries  were  made  at  the  Woman's 
Medical  College  to. see  if  there  was  a  graduate 
ready  to  go  to  India  as  a  medical  missionary. 
The  name  of  Clara  Swain  of  Castile,  New  York, 
was  given.  A  letter  was  written  to  her  whicli 
resulted  in  her  accepting  the  call,  after  three 
months   of   thought   and   prayer.      Meanwhile 


MISSIONARIES  A  T  WORK  129 

the  women  of  the  Methodist  Church  had  organ- 
ized, and  the  Union  Missionary  Society  most 
generously  surrendered  all  claim  to  Miss  Swain 
(who  was  herself  a  Methodist),  and  relinquished 
the  honor  of  sending  the  first  woman  physician 
to  the  women  of  non-Christian  lands.  This 
beautiful  deed  of  generous  courtesy  on  the  part 
of  the  pioneer  Woman's  Board  has  never  been 
forgotten  by  the  Methodist  women.  Miss 
Swain  sailed  with  Miss  Thoburn,  the  first 
missionaries  to  be  sent  out  by  the  Methodist 
women  of  America.  The  life  of  Dr.  Swain 
will  be  presented  in  Chapter  IV. 

In  1871  the  Presbyterian  women  sent  out  Pioneer 
their  pioneer,  Miss  Sara  C.  Seward,  niece  of  mission, 
the  Secretary  of  State,  to  Allahabad,  India,  aries. 
where  she  died  at  her  post,  of  cholera,  in  1891. 
Her  memorial  is  the  beautiful  Sara  Seward  Hos- 
pital, where  24,145  patients  were  treated  in  1909. 
In  1873  the  Congregational  Board  sent  out 
Dr.  Sarah  F.  Norris  of  New  Hampshire  to 
Bombay.  In  less  than  three  months  she  had 
prescribed  for  four  hundred  patients.  All 
homes  were  open  to  her,  Hindu,  Parsi,  Moham- 
medan, Christian,  high  caste,  low  caste,  rich,  or 
poor.  More  than  fifteen  thousand  received  re- 
ligions instruction  and  treatment  annually  at 
her  dispensary.  The  Baptist  women  of  the 
West  sent  out  as  their  pioneer  Caroline  H. 
Daniels  of  Michigan,  to  Swatovv,  China,  in  1879, 
and  the  women   of  the   East  Dr.  Ida  Faye  to 


130    WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

Nellore,  India,  in  1881.  To  the  Methodist 
women  belongs  the  honor  of  sending  out  the 
first  woman  i)liysician  to  China,  Dr.  Combs  of 
New  York,  who  was  appointed  for  Peking,  in 
1873;  the  first  fully  trained  physician  to  Korea, 
Dr.  Meta  Howard,  in  1887 ;  and  the  first  to  the 
Philippines,  Dr.  Annie  Norton,  in  1900.  In 
1886  the  Presbyterians  sent  to  Korea,  Miss 
Ellers,  a  traineil  nurse  who  lacked  but  a  little 
of  being  a  fully  trained  physician.  She  was 
put  in  charge  of  the  women's  ward  in  the  hos- 
pital and  made  physician  to  the  queen.  This 
position  she  retained  until  the  assassination  of 
the  queen  in  1895.  The  pioneer  Englisii 
woman  was  Dr.  Fanny  J.  Butler,  sent  to  India 
in  1880  by  the  Churcli  of  England  Zenana 
Missionary  Society. 
Hospitals.  As  soon  as  tlie  medical  missionary  was  on  the 

field  the  need  of  hospitals  and  dispensaries  for 
women  and  children  began  to  be  keenly  felt. 
The  dispensary  came  first ;  it  was  the  cheapest, 
and  the  missionary  public,  who  were  by  no 
means  all  converted  to  medical  missions,  were 
not  eager  to  spend  much  on  the  new  venture. 
The  dispensary,  which  v/as  more  or  less  for 
transients,  led  inevitably  to  the  hospitals,  where 
for  weeks  or  months  the  patient  could  be  drink- 
ing in  the  truths  of  Christianity  while  receiving 
healing  for  the  body.  Government  hospitals 
and  general  hospitals  were  largely  monopolized 
by  men;  and  even  had  there  been  opportunities. 


MISSIONARIES  AT  WORK  131 

the  social  prejudices  and  actual  moral  dangers 
would  have  been  such  as  to  prevent  most 
women  from  going  to  such  institutions  for  treat- 
ment. As  American  women  travelled  more  and 
more  widely  they  saw  this  need  and  began  to 
dot  the  Eastern  lands — the  dots  wide  apart,  it 
must  be  confessed  —  with  that  new  thing  in  the 
East,  a  hospital  for  women  and  children.  The 
Isabella  Fisher  hospital  in  Tientsin  was  built 
in  1881  by  a  Baltimore  woman  by  the  gift  of 
$5000.  The  Margaret  Williamson  hospital  in 
Shanghai  was  given  to  the  Women's  Union 
Missionary  Society  by  Mrs.  Williamson.  Here 
land,  building,  equipment,  instruments,  and  the 
salary  of  nurse  and  physician  for  some  years 
were  provided  for  at  an  expense  of  ii35,000. 
"  The  cost  of  nursing  is  so  slight,"  says  Dr. 
James  L.  Barton  in  "  The  Medical  Mission- 
ary," "  the  salaries  of  native  assistants  so  low, 
that  a  hospital  with  dispensaries  reaching  from 
10,000  to  25,000  patients  a  year  costs  annually 
only  a  few  hundred  dollars  in  addition  to  the 
fees  and  thank-offerings  received  from  grateful 
patients.  The  entire  thirty-eight  hospitals  of 
the  American  Board  could  be  endowed  with  a 
fund  that  is  insufficient  to  meet  the  needs  of 
one  of  our  many  city  hospitals." 

1.    TJie  Softening  of  Native  Prejudice 
The  women  of  the  Orient,  shut  in,  illiterate, 
superstitious,  are  naturally  the  hardest  to  win. 


132    WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

Value  of  They  do  not  want  to  learn,  tliey  resist  the  paiu 
work  by  ^^  ^^^^  ideas.  To  one  argument  they  are  open, 
women.  The  woman  who  ministers  to  them  in  their  suf- 

fering, who  redeems  the  lives  of  their  little  ones, 
who  fights  for  them  the  pestilence  that  walks 
in  darkness,  may  say  anything  she  pleases  to 
them  about  her  religion,  and  they  will  listen. 
Hundreds  of  miles  tliey  come  to  the  missionary 
hospital  for  treatment;  and  far  and  wide,  in  the 
closed  apartments  of  the  women,  they  spread 
friendliness  instead  of  suspicion  toward  the  new 
faith.  Wherever  women's  hospitals  have  gone 
the  proportion  of  women  in  the  churches  has 
risen.  The  prejudices  of  men  are  softened  as 
well  as  those  of  women.  Said  Li  Hung  Chang, 
"If  tlie  missionary  ever  comes  to  the  Chinese 
heart,  the  physician  will  open  the  door."  Said 
a  Hindu  gentleman,  ''  Your  Christian  women 
are  winning  our  liomes,  your  Christian  physi- 
cians are  winning  our  hearts." 

2.    Elevation  of  the  Status  of  Woman 

To  men  and  women  alike  it  comes  with  a 
shock  of  surprise  to  see  beautiful  hospitals  and 
dispensaries  built  just  for  women.  For  ages 
the  women  have  been  so  used  to  taking  the 
left-over  bits  of  life  that  they  cannot  understand 
such  consideration.  I>ut  in  their  own  eyes  and 
in  that  of  their  male  relatives  they  assume  a 
new  importance.  To  see  a  young  mother  ten- 
derly cared  for  in  a  clean  white  bed,  is  revolu- 


MISSIONARIES  AT   WORK  133 

tionary  in  countries  where  childbirth  has  been 
regarded  as  unclean.  To  see  a  woman  physi- 
cian, strong,  capable,  wise,  able  to  direct  even 
my  lord  the  husband  and  secure  his  respectful 
compliance  with  her  orders,  wakens  dangerous 
thoughts  in  the  dullest  feminine  brain.  "  The 
world  was  made  for  women  also,"  said  a  Hindu 
woman  after  a  month's  stay  in  a  hospital  where 
she  had  seen  all  women,  caste  or  outcaste, 
treated  with  respect  as  human  beings. 

3.    Inculcation  of  Higher  Ideals  of  Home  Life 

The  missionary  doctor  can  better  enforce  ad- 
vanced doctrine  in  regard  to  cleanliness,  sanita- 
tion, and  food  than  any  other.  She  can  trace 
the  baby's  illness  to  a  foul  courtyard  or  impure 
food,  when  such  inquiries  would  be  resented 
from  any  one  else.  In  addition  to  the  constant 
pressure  exerted  by  the  women  physicians  in  the 
home,  is  the  object-lesson  afforded  by  the  hos- 
pital. Its  spotless  wards,  its  tidy  yard,  its 
wholesome  food,  afford  glimpses  of  possible 
beauty  and  orderliness  in  daily  life  to  the  many 
women  whom  its  walls  shelter  in  the  course  of 
a  year.  This  influence,  too,  is  widespread,  for  a 
single  hospital  may  be  advertised  by  grateful 
patients  in  a  hundred  villages. 

4.    Demonstration  of  Christianity 
The  hospital  is  Christianity  put  in  concrete 
terms  that  the  dullest  can  comprehend.     The 


134   WESTERN  WOMEX  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

love  which  induces  the  strangers  to  perform 
loathely  tasks  for  the  unloveliest,  and  to  sacri- 
fice life  itself,  if  need  be,  incarnates  the  love  of 
Christ  before  the  patients.  Jesus  himself  lives 
again  in  his  followers,  and  being  lifted  up  draws 
all  men  unto  him,  as  he  said. 

5.    Evangelizing  Agency  of  Cheat  Power 

Nowhere  is  there  such  a  field  for  teaching 
Christianity  as  in  a  hospital.  Far  and  wide 
scatter  the  precious  seeds,  to  spring  up  later  in 
requests  for  instruction  from  villages  where  the 
missionary  had  never  gone.  Dr.  Porter  of 
Pang  Chuang  has  recently  reported  that  in  one 
year  patients  from  1031  villages  came  to  that 
one  hospital,  —  some  of  them  a  journey  of  from 
five  to  ten  days.  "One  half  of  our  native 
churches  had  their  origin,"  he  says,  "  in  patients 
in  hospital  attendance." 

Trained  Ouc  of  the  corollarics  of  the  hospital  is  the 

trained  nurse.  At  first  she  comes,  like  her  sis- 
ter the  doctor,  from  that  wonderland,  America 
or  England.  Undeveloped  yet  are  the  possi- 
bilities for  the  usefulness  of  the  missionary 
trained  nurse.  For  generations,  possibly,  she 
will  be  needed  to  train  and  inspire  and  minister. 
But  swiftly  in  her  wake  comes  the  Indian,  the 
Chinese,  the  African  trained  nurse.  Whenever 
there  is  a  missionary  hospital  or  dispensary,  it 
becomes  necessary  for  the  physician  in  charge 


nurses. 


MISSIONARIES  AT   WORK 


135 


to  train  native  helpers.  It  is  often  diflficult 
work  to  get  faithful,  intelligent,  scientific  ser- 
vice. It  is  so  hard  for  these  women  to  compre- 
hend the  need  of  surgical  cleanliness  and  exact 
obedience.  Yet  trained  they  are,  and  some  of 
them  make  wonderful  nurses.  In  India  there 
have  been  difficulties  in  this  work  because  the 
care  of  the  sick  is  regarded  as  a  menial  and  de- 
grading work,  belonging  to  the  outcaste.  The 
educated  and  fully  trained  nurses,  however,  are 
gradually  working  out  that  elevation  of  status 
which  we  have  seen  the  trained  nurse  accomplish 
{to  be  sure  against  less  odds^  in  our  own  land. 
Successful  training  schools  for  native  nurses  are 
now  in  operation  in  many  of  the  centres  of  mis- 
sionary work. 

The  first  women  physicians  of  the  Orient  very 
naturall}'  came  to  this  country  or  to  England  for 
their  training :  Esther  Pak  of  Korea,  Kei  O 
Kami  of  Japan,  Hii  King  Eng  of  China,  Ananda- 
bai  Joshee  of  India.  But  as  women  begin  to 
crowd  into  the  new  profession  opening  before 
them,  training  schools  in  their  own  land  are  be- 
ing developed.  In  India  there  is  a  North  India 
School  of  ^ledicine  for  Christian  women  at  Lo- 
diana.  The  Campbell  Medical  School  in  Cal- 
cutta has  a  class  for  native  girls.  The  Lady 
Dufferin  Association  reports  some  three  hun- 
dred female  students  under  its  charge  in  medi- 
cal schools  and  colleges.  The  Universities  of 
Calcutta,  Madras,  Bombay,  Lahore,  and  Agra 


Native 
women 
physicians 


136   WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

are  open  to  women  students  of  medicine. 
Many  such  students  are  found  in  Japan,  and  the 
number  in  China  is  increasing  rapidly.  There 
is  a  medical  college  for  women  in  Canton,  for 
which  a  Chinese  gave  $3500  ;  and  there  is  also 
the  Union  Medical  College  in  Peking.  Said 
Sir  Charles  U.  Aitchison,  lieutenant-governor 
of  the  Punjab:  "It  was  at  the  suggestion  of 
the  missionaries  that  I  have  this  year  (1897)  in- 
troduced a  system  of  government  grants-in-aid 
to  hospitals  and  dispensaries.  It  is  to  the  ex- 
ample set  by  missionary  bodies  in  mission  hos- 
pitals, and  in  house-to-house  visitation,  that  the 
present  widespread  demand  for  the  medical  aid 
and  training  for  the  women  of  India  is  mainly 
due." 
Women  In  addition    to    the  missionary  teachers  and 

evangelists,  pliygjcians,  there  are  women  set  apart  for  evan- 
gelistic work.  With  their  trained  Bible  women 
they  tour  the  villages,  and  visit  the  markets 
and  homes  of  the  cities.  In  everything  but 
name  they  are  preachers,  and  often  the  most 
effective  ones.  Sitting  at  the  well-side  or  under 
some  spreading  tree,  they  gather  women  and 
children  about  them  and  tell  the  old,  old  story 
of  Jesus  and  his  love.  Perhaps  the  most  far- 
reaching  work  of  the  lay  evangelists  is  done 
through  the  Bible  women.  These  they  gather 
for  instruction  and  send  them  out  two  by  two 
sometimes,  and  sometimes  singly,  and  then  talk 
over  fully  with  them  the  experiences  they  meet. 


MISSIONARIES  AT    WORK  137 

In  some  missions  the  evangelist  herself  is  ac- 
companied by  a  Bible  woman.  The  story  is 
told  of  one  Bible  woman  who  brought  a  group  of 
forty  women  from  one  village,  saying  joyfully, 
*'  They  are  all  believers."  This  quiet,  wide  seed- 
sowing  by  the  women  in  the  homes  is  bound  to 
tell.  Bishop  Bashford  of  China  says  that  in 
travelling  through  West  China  he  was  aston- 
ished to  learn  that  ninety  per  cent  of  the  rapidly 
increasing  church  membership  is  composed  of 
men.  On  asking  why  the  women  did  not  come, 
he  was  assured  that  the  wives  would  gladly 
come  into  church  membership  if  only  women 
could  be  sent  to  teach  them  the  word  of  life. 
The  bishop  concludes,  "  We  must  immediately 
and  strongly  reenforce  our  mission  in  West 
China,  as  well  as  our  missions  in  Central  China, 
North  China,  and  indeed  all  our  missions  in 
China,  with  women  prepared  to  do  evangelistic 
work." 

Lever   Hospitals   and  Homes.— ''The   lepers   Philan- 

^  PI-  -1  thropic 

are  cleansed  "  was  one  of  the  signs  given  by  our  agencies. 
Lord  of  his  divine  ministry,  and  to  this  day  the 
ministry  to  lepers  is  a  distinguishing  feature 
of  those  who  follow  the  Christ.  Through  the 
care  and  study  given  these  helpless  and  loath- 
some sufferers  by  missionaries,  it  has  been  estab- 
lished that  leprosy,  while  communicated,  is  not 
hereditary,  and  that  the  untainted  children  of 
lepers  may  be  removed  from  their  parents  and 
trained  to  lives  of  usefulness  and  health.     The 


138   WESTERX  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

work  of  Mary  Reed  at  Cliina  (M.  E.),  of  Jessica 
Carleton  at  Ambala  (M.  E.),  of  Mrs.  Hucket 
in  Madagascar  (L.  M.  S.),  of  Mrs.  Morgan  in 
Singapore  (M.  E.),  of  Miss  Youngman  at  Ihaien 
(Pres.),  and  Miss  Riddell  and  Miss  Nott  at 
Kumanioto  (C.  M.  S.)  is  too  well  known  to 
need  description. 

Orphanages.  —  In  all  China,  India,  and  Japan 
there  were  no  orphanages  a  hundred  years  ago. 
To-day  the  number  outside  those  supported  by 
Christian  missions  is  insignificant.  When 
schools  first  began,  the  only  pupils  who  could  be 
secured  were  the  unfortunate  and  the  orphans. 
In  times  of  flood,  famine,  persecution,  or  war, 
thousands  of  orphans,  desolate  and  uncared  for, 
were  rescued  by  the  missionaries  and  gathered 
into  orphanages.  Dr.  Dennis  states  that  the 
number  so  rescued  is  fully  50,000  in  Asia  Minor 
alone,  and  of  this  number  10,000  have  been  at 
times  suddenly  thrown  on  to  the  kindly  care  of 
the  missionaries.  In  the  early  days  of  Ind- 
ian missions  not  less  than  1700  children  were 
rescued  from  the  wild  Khonds,  who  had  bought 
them  to  offer  as  sacrifices.  The  Khonds,  it 
seems,  bought  these  children  who  had  been 
stolen  from  their  village  homes,  fattened  them 
for  sacrifice,  and  then  in  paroxysms  of  religious 
frenzy,  with  music  and  wild  dances,  had  cut  the 
living  flesh  from  the  victims  to  present  to  the 
earth  spirit.  In  the  famine  of  1896  a  single 
missionary    rescued    and   supported    700    cliil- 


MISSIONARIES  AT   WORK  139 

dren  until  they  could  be  distributed  among 
the  various  orphanages.  The  Christian  Wom- 
an's Board  of  Missions  in  a  recent  famine 
rescued  750  children.  These  little  ones  come 
from  all  grades  of  society.  In  the  pestilence 
or  famine  they  have  lost  family  and  friends, 
and  may  have  wandered  far  away  from  their 
homes,  and  been  so  reduced  as  literally  to  for- 
get their  own  names. 

The  orphanages  are  homes  of  industry.  The  industries 
children  are  taught  trades  that  will  make  them  *^"^  *' 
self-supporting,  are  educated.  Christianized, 
and  loved  into  happiness  once  more.  In  the 
Lalitpur  orphanage  the  weaving  of  cloth  is  a 
specialty.  At  Hassan,  the  Wesleyan  orphan- 
age, the  girls  are  famous  for  the  making  of 
Hassan  caps.  Orders  come  from  all  over  India 
and  thus  help  to  support  the  orphanage.  The 
former  pupils  have  taken  the  industiy  into 
their  homes  and  helped  to  relieve  the  chronic 
poverty  of  the  people.  Spinning-wheels  hum 
busily  in  one  orphanage  ;  wire-spring  mattresses 
are  made  in  another;  dairy  farms  are  established 
and  rope-making  taught  in  still  others.  Miss 
Patterson,  in  her  orphanage  at  Chunar,  trains 
the  girls  to  become  ayahs  and  cooks,  or  prepares 
them  to  enter  the  nurses'  training-school. 

In  Korea,  when  Christianity  was  not  yet  a 
generation  old,  an  orphanage  was  established 
in  Seoul  under  the  charge  of  Miss  Pash  and 
Miss    Perry.     The  native  Christians  of  Japan 


140   WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

are  already  planning  to  carry  their  orphanage 
work  into  Korea. 

In  Aino}',  China,  a  home  for  infant  girls  came 
about  in  this  way.  A  woman  came  into  the 
missionary  hospital  carrying  a  baby  wliich  was 
going  blind.  The  cliild  had  been  given  her  by 
Its  niotlier,  but  she  could  not  raise  a  blind  girl, 
and  said,  "  I  must  throw  her  away,  I  cannot 
keep  her."  The  ladies  of  the  mission  took  the 
baby,  raised  money,  rented  a  house,  and  started 
an  orphanage.  They  testify  tiiat  in  this  part 
of  China  there  is  hardly  a  Christian  woman  in 
the  church  who  had  not  in  her  heathen  days 
made  away  with  one  or  more  of  her  girls.  In 
one  case  Miss  Johnson  knew  of  one  mother  who 
had  thrown  away  nine  out  of  her  ten  daughters 
at  birth. 

The  orphans  in  these  schools  turn  out  well, 
too.  Preachers,  teachers,  Bible  women,  pas- 
tors' wives,  all  are  found  among  them.  One 
Telugu  family  of  two  brothers  and  two  sisters 
rescued  in  the  famine  of  a  generation  ago  are 
all  leaders  in  the  community  to-day. 

The  records  of  one  hundi-ed  thirty  of  the 
original  orphan  girls  gathered  in  18G0  after  one 
of  the  terrible  Indian  famines  were  followed 
and  the  records  made  in  1895.  The  following 
•remarkable  results  were  shown.  Out  of  the 
one  hundred  thirty,  eight  had  become  physi- 
cians, five  hospital  assistants,  twenty-eight 
school-teachers,  fourteen  were  wives  of  preach- 


MISSIOXARIES  AT    WORK  141 

ers,  who  are  themselves  employed  in  the 
work,  and  thirty-two  were  teachers  or  church 
workers.  This  one  orphanage  in  twenty-four 
years  furnished  one  hundred  eighty  Chris- 
tian workers.  In  1885,  out  of  one  hundred 
twenty-five  girls  who  had  married  from  the 
orphanage  .in  the  preceding  nine  years,  more 
than  one  hundred  had  engaged  in  Christian 
work  as  teachers  or   Bible   women  after  their  • 

marriage. 

The  case  of  the  blind  and  the  deaf  was  sad  A  school  for 

dff  GCti  VGS» 

indeed  in  non-Christian  lands.  In  China  blind 
girls  were  sold  and  trained  to  lives  of  shame. 
In  all  lands  the  deaf  were  hopelessly  isolated 
by  their  misfortune.     Owing  to  lack  of  sanitary  • 

care  at  birth,  uncleanly  habits,  exposure  to  the 
glaring  sun,  blindness  is  fearfully  prevalent  in 
the  Orient.  Among  the  cures  of  the  medical 
missionaries  that  have  excited  most  amazement 
and  gratitude  are  the  operations  for  cataract. 
Miss  Gordon-Cummings  estimates  that  there  is 
at  least  one  blind  to  every  six  hundred  of  the 
population  in  China.  In  Chinchu  Miss  Gra- 
ham of  the  English  Presbyterian  Mission  has 
an  industrial  school  for  the  blind.  Miss  Coding- 
ton of  the  Church  of  England  Zenana  Mission 
has  a  school  in  Kucheng ;  Dr.  Mary  Niles,  a 
school  for  blind  girls  in  Canton;  and  Miss  Ford, 
a  class  for  blind  girls  in  Jerusalem. 

Dr.  Dennis  tells  a  story  of  the  China  Inland 
mission   at    Chefoo.     A    blind   man   had   been 


1-42   WESTERN  WOMEN  JN  EASTERN  LANDS 


A  school  for 
deaf  mutes. 


Activities 
many. 


cured  at  the  hospital,  and  on  his  return  home 
liunted  up  twenty  other  blind  men  and  shippetl 
them  in  a  boat  to  Chefoo.  Another  patient  had 
a  cataract  successfully  removed  in  the  hospital 
at  Hankow  (L.  M.  S.).  On  his  return  home 
lie  was  besieged  by  a  group  of  blind  men  wlio 
besought  him  to  lead  them  to  the  same  physi- 
cian who  had  healed  him.  A  strange  proces- 
sion of  forty-eight  blind  men  was  formed,  each 
holding  a  rope  in  the  hand  of  the  one  before 
him;  they  then  marched  two  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  to  Hankow,  where  nearly  all  were  cured. 

An  American  woman,  Mrs.  Mills  of  Chefoo, 
has  attacked  the  problem  of  educating  the  Chi- 
nese deaf  mutes.  It  is  hard  enough  to  teach 
the  deaf  in  an  alphabeticlanguage  like  English; 
the  difficulties  of  adjusting  a  language  like  Chi- 
nese to  such  a  use  may  be  imagined.  Nothing 
daunted,  Mrs.  Mills  has  attacked  the  problem 
successfully.  Her  school  is  sup[)orted  by  deaf 
mutes  in  Christian  countries.  Tliere  is  also  a 
class  for  deaf  mutes  in  the  Sara  Tucker  College 
at  Palamcotta,  and  in  Miss  Millard's  school  for 
the  blind  in  Bombay. 

Time  would  fail  us  to  tell  of  the  Dorcas 
societies,  of  the  sewing  bees,  of  missionary  socie- 
ties among  native  ChrisJtians,  of  girls'  and  boys' 
clubs,  of  mothers'  meetings  and  refuges  for 
friendless  women,  of  poor  funds  and  widows' 
homes  and  food  depots  and  industrial  classes, 
and     of    a    host   of    other    lovely    ministries. 


MISSIONARIES  AT    WORK  143 

Not  the  least  beneficent  is  the  training 
in  sanitation  that  goes  on  unremittingly  wher- 
ever an  American  woman  is  stationed  To 
call  the  attention  to  the  evil  of  washing  cloth- 
ing in  the  drinking  tanks,  to  discourage  the 
evil  of  eating  the  flesh  of  animals  that  have 
died  from  disease,  to  instruct  in  the  feeding 
and  bathing  of  babies,  is  the  inevitable  impulse 
of  tlie  missionary  women.  Every  home  they 
set  up,  every  school  they  establish,  is  an  object 
lesson  in  the  art  of  living.  The  story  is  told 
of  a  village  consisting  of  about  a  hundred  per- 
sons who  were  induced  by  the  missionaries  to 
move  from  a  most  unsanitary  quarter  with  very 
poor  Avater  supply  to  a  healthful  location. 
Within  the  twelve  years  previous  sixty  of  the 
village  had  died,  chiefly  children,  and  the  whole 
village  seemed  doomed.  After  the  missionaries 
had  induced  them  to  change,  they  flourished  and 
multiplied,  the  poor  old  people  renewed  their 
strength,  and  the  children  grew  strong  and 
vigorous. 

The  influence  of  the  teaching  of  the  mission-  Health  of 

aries  is  clearly  seen  in  the  health  of  the  com-  native Chns- 

.  .     .  tians. 

munities  of  native  Christians,  as  contrasted  with 

non-Christian  communities  around  them.  Dur- 
ing a  visitation  of  the  plague  in  India  in  1898 
the  immunity  of  the  native  Christians  was  often 
commented  upon.  In  Bombay,  out  of  1500 
native  Christians  only  six  were  attacked,  though 
many  were  exposed  to  constant  risk  in  their 


144   WESTERN  WOMEN  IX  EASTERX  LANDS 

ministry  to  the  sick.  A  report  of  the  Health 
Department  in  Bombay  showed  that  in  one 
week  in  June,  1898,  the  death-rate  among  low- 
caste  Hindus  was  52  per  thousand,  among 
Europeans  27  per  thousand,  high-caste  Hindus 
26,  Parsis  24,  Jews  20,  native  Christians  8  per 
thousand.  In  Harpoot,  Turkey,  so  great  was 
the  immunity  in  time  of  cholera  that  an  official 
said  to  one  of  the  missionaries,  "  How  is  it, 
O  ye  Protestants,  —  has  God  spread  his  tent 
over  you,  that  ye  are  spared  ?  " 

Dr.  Mary  Fulton,  writing  from  Canton,  says. 
The  Christians  were  careful  to  whitewash 
their  walls  and  were  particular  about  disinfect- 
ants." In  Hong  Kong,  although  living  in  the 
worst  part  of  the  city,  the  Christian  community 
lost  out  of  two  hundred  only  three  adults  and 
one  child.  Freedom  from  the  fear  of  death, 
better  standards  of  sanitation,  and  obedience 
of  tlie  missionaries'  instructions  are  undoubtedly 
among  the  causes  for  this  marvellous  immunity. 
Lady  This   great  philanthropy,  while  in  no   sense 

missionary,  is  directly  the  outcome  of  mission- 
ary work  among  women,  and  draws  most  of  its 
nurses  from  Christian  schools.  The  story  of 
its  founding  is  connected  with  the  Church  of 
England  Zenana  Missionary  Society.  Miss 
Beilby  had  been  sent  to  Lucknow  to  open  a 
little  hospital,  which  flourished  exceedingly 
under  her  skilful  care.  In  the  course  of  her 
ministrations  she  was  called  to  Poona  to  attend 


DulTerin 
hospitals. 


MISSIONARIES  AT   WORK  145 

the  Maharani  (the  princess,  wife  of  the  native 
ruler,  the  JSIaharajah).  She  remained  with  her 
royal  patient  for  several  weeks,  until  complete 
recovery  was  secured.  When  she  left,  the  prin- 
cess made  her  promise  to  take  a  message  to  the 
Queen  of  England.  "  Write  it  small  and  put  it 
in  a  locket  and  wear  it  around  your  neck  until 
you  see  our  great  Empress,"  she  said.  "  Give 
it  to  her  yourself ;  you  are  not  to  send  it 
by  another."  Overcoming  every  difficulty,  the 
mlsisionary  obtained  the  interview  with  the 
Sovereign,  and  delivered  the  precious  message. 
"  Tell  our  Queen"  it  said,  '*'  what  we  zvomen  of  the 
zenanas  suffer  ivhen  we  are  sick." 

Queen  Victoria  was  Drofoundly  impressed  by 
such  a  message  coming  trom  such  a  source,  and 
as  she  was  just  about  to  send  out  Lord  Dufferin 
as  Governor  of  India,  laid  it  upon  Lady  Duf- 
ferin to  see  what  could  be  done.  Lady  Duf- 
ferin promptly  investigated,  called  a  committee 
of  prominent  women,  drew  up  a  constitution, 
sent  out  appeals  throughout  the  country,  and 
succeeded  by  her  own  generosity,  and  that  of 
those  she  could  interest,  in  establishing  one  of 
the  great  philanthropies  of  the  day.  The  object 
of  the  association  is  to  provide  hospitals,  doctors, 
nurses,  and  medicine  for  the  women  and  children 
of  India.  Its  aim  is  not  religious,  but  it  has 
had  to  rely  almost  solely  upon  the  women 
trained  in  the  missionary  schools  for  its  nurses, 
aad  for  the  medical  students  whom  it  educates. 


146   WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 


The 

Florence 
Nightiugale 
of  Japan. 


Literary 
work. 


Two  hundred  and  forty  of  these  are  studying, 
either  in  India  or  Enghmd,  to  be  pliysicians. 
The  Dufferin  hospitals  are  controlled  by  women 
superintendents  ;  hundreds  of  thousands  of  pa- 
tients are  treated  each  year. 

Miss  Eliza  Talcott,  a  missionary  in  Japan, 
won  the  entliusiastic  devotion  of  both  Chinese 
and  Japanese  soldiers  during  the  war  between 
the  two  countries.  She  gave  herself  to  unre- 
mitting visitation  of  the  hospitals,  ministered 
unto  the  dying,  wrote  messages  to  the  loved 
ones,  and  by  her  beautiful  and  unselfish  minis- 
try gave  a  new  meaning  to  Christianity  in  the 
eyes  of  multitudes  of  the  soldiers.  Chinese 
officers  of  high  rank  paid  tribute  to  her.  An 
account  of  her  experience  is  given  in  the  July 
number,  1896,  of  Our  Sisters  in  Other  Lands^ 
the  organ  of  the  English  Presbyterian  women. 

Oriental  women,  being  very  much  of  a  piece 
■with  ourselves,  soon  felt  the  need  of  something 
more  than  religious  reading,  something  which 
should  take  the  place  which  the  Youth's  Com- 
panion and  the  Ladies^  Home  Journal  fill  with  us. 
The  missionaries  realized  that  the  writing  or 
translating  of  some  wholesome  stories  and  arti- 
cles into  the  vernacular  was  an  important  part  of 
their  work.  Hence  there  was  built  up  on  the  field 
a  large  number  of  modest  weeklies  or  monthlies 
designed  to  provide  good  reading  in  the  home. 
In  many  of  these,  women  have  rendered  valu- 
able assistance   as    editors  or  business  agents. 


MISSIONARIES  AT    WORK  147 

Among  the  five  hundred  and  more  titles  listed  by 
Dr.  Dennis  of  periodicals  published  in  the  ver- 
nacular are  Morning  Light  and  Grlad  Tidings,  of 
Japan;  Messenger  of  Truth,  in  South  India; 
Progress,  in  Madras;  Star  of  India,  Lucknow; 
Children's  Lamp,  in  Ceylon;  The  Guide,  of 
Cairo;  Rags  of  Light,  of  Persia;  Christian  Ex- 
press, of  Lovedale;  The  Aurora,  of  Livingstonia; 
Good  Words,  of  Madagascar;  Christian  News  • 
of  Fiji. 

Our  indefatigable  Methodist  sisters  were  The 
the  first,  so  far  as  we  know,  to  actually  endow  J^^"^^"  ^ 
a  newspaper  for  zenana  women  in  India.  In 
1883,  at  the  meeting  of  the  General  Executive 
Committee  in  Des  Moines,  the  project  was 
broached  of  raising  an  endowment  fund  of 
825,000  to  establish  such  a  paper.  The  women 
of  the  church  were  asked  to  give  twenty-five 
cents  each,  and  in  five  years  the  amount  asked 
for  was  raised.  The  paper  was  christened  in 
honor  of  the  monthly  organ  of  the  society  in 
this  country.  The  Woman  s  Friend.  It  is  issued 
in  five  dialects,  Urdu,  Hindu,  Bengali,  Tamil, 
Marathi.  It  contains  editorials  on  topics  of  the 
day,  discusses  such  burning  questions  as  infant 
marriage,  child  widowhood,  and  the  education 
of  girls.  There  are  travel-talks,  with  pictures 
of  famous  buildings  or  cities,  nature-studies  with 
pictures,  an  illustrated  story,  a  letter-box  for 
children,  who  seem  to  enjoy  writing  to  it  as 
much  as  our  children  do  to  St.  Nicholas.     Then 


up 


148   WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

notes  on  health,  gems  of  poetry,  and  a  hymn 
make  up  a  very  attractive  home  paper  in  a  land 
where  there  is  no  pure,  simple  literature  in  the 
home.  It  is  estimated  that  twenty  thousand 
women  read  these  papers. 
Summing  In  this  rapid   survey  only  the  principal  ac- 

tivities of  women's  work  for  women  in  non- 
Christian  lands  have  been  touched  upon.  Their 
•  mission  stations  are,  as  has  been  said  already, 
great  social  settlements  suffused  with  the 
religious  motive.  Following  the  need  of  each 
community,  they  are  bound  to  blossom  into 
manifold  ministries.  For  the  growth  of  person- 
ality under  the  stimulus  of  the  Gospel  is  like 
the  modern  evolution  of  buildings.  The  savage 
lives  in  a  hut,  primitive  civilization  in  a  cot- 
tage, but  modern  life  demands  many  stories  and 
diversified  structure.  These  schools,  hospitals, 
clubs,  libraries,  are  developing  a  new  woman  in 
the  East,  with  wants  which  her  mother  never 
knew.  To  meet  these  expanding  desires  an 
expanding  ministry  will  be  required.  The 
nurse,  the  business  woman,  the  musician,  the 
journalist,  the  dietician,  the  naturalist,  may  all 
find  that  their  contribution  is  needed  to  round 
out  this  amazing  undertaking. 

BIBLE   READING 

1.  The  Easter  Commission.     Matthew  xxviii.  1-10. 

2.  The  Teacher's  Commission.    Matthew  xxviii.  1 9,  20. 

3.  The  Parable  of  the  Leaven.     Matthew  xiii.  33. 

4.  Parable  of  the  Lost  Coin.     Luke  xv.  8-11. 


MISSIO^'ARIES  AT   WORK  149 

In  the  Easter  commission  we  have  the  command  of 
the  Risen  Lord  committing  to  women  the  message  of  the 
resurrection  gospel,  "  Go,  tell." 

In  the  teacher's  commission  we  have  the  charter  of 
the  teacher  putting  her  work  on  a  level  with  that  of  the 
preaching.  "  Teaching  all  things  "  is  as  much  part  of  the 
great  commission  as  is  making  disciples. 

The  parable  of  the  leaven  gives  in  picture  form  the 
story  of  woman's  work,  hidden,  personal,  persuasive, 
triumphant,  when  the  "  whole  is  leavened." 

In  the  parable  of  the  lost  coin  we  have  the  diligent 
search  for  the  lost  treasure,  the  careful  work,  the  illumi- 
nating light,  the  glad  rejoicing. 

QUESTIONS 
For  Study  and  Discussion' 

What  activities  of  the  woman's  societies  seem  to  you 
most  important?     How  many  can  you  recall? 

Which  are  best  developed,  which  least  developed? 

Which  ought  to  be  strengthened,  first  of  all  ? 

Which  forms  of  missionary  activities  do  you  think 
most  needed  in  China?  in  India?  in  Japan?  in  Africa? 
in  the  Island  World?  in  South  America? 

How  many  teachers  has  your  own  Board  on  the  field  ? 
How  many  evangelists?  Bible  women?  physicians? 
trained  nurses  ? 

Has  your  Board  a  hospital  in  every  station  ?  Does  it 
need  one  ?     Give  reasons  for  your  answer. 

In  what  way  does  your  Board  cooperate  with  other 
societies  on  the  field?  Could  it  extend  this  cooperation? 
How? 

How  many  missionaries  is  your  Board  supporting? 
How  many  ten  years  ago  ?  What  has  been  the  rate  of 
growth  ? 

How  many  women  are  members  of  your  denomination? 
How  many  contribute  to  your  society? 


150   WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

Compare  the  membership  in  the  churches  with  that  of 
the  niiasiouary  society  in  1899;  in  1910.  What  ratio  of 
growth  ? 

How  is  it  in  your  individual  churcli? 

What  is  the  per  capita  average  in  your  local  society;  in 
your  local  church  ? 

QUOTATIONS 

"  Did  Athens  with  three-fourths,  and  Rome  with 
three -fifths,  of  lier  population  in  slavery  build  hospitals 
for  the  sick,  the  lame,  the  blind,  the  insane,  the  leper? 
Did  these  humanitarian  feelings  and  custorus  of  benevo- 
lence arise  in  India,  or  Japan  or  China,  with  their  highly 
praised  and  elaborate  system  of  morals?  Among  Pagan 
nations  there  has  been  high  culture,  art,  and  eloquence? 
but  little  humanity.  Greece  and  Rome  had  shrines  for 
numberless  divinities,  forty  theatres  for  amusement, 
thousands  of  perfumery  stores,  but  no  shrine  for  broth- 
erly love,  no  almshouse  for  the  poor.  Millions  of  money 
were  expended  on  convivial  feasts,  but  nothing  for  or- 
phans or  homes  for  widows.  '  In  all  my  classic  reading,' 
says  Professor  Packard,  '  I  have  never  met  with  the  idea 
of  an  infirmary  or  hospital,  except  for  sick  cats  (sacred 
animals)  in  Kgypt.' "  —  Sid.n'ky  Gulick,  "The  Growth 
of  the  Kingdom  of  God." 

Dr.  Dollinger  says,  "  Among  the  millionaires  of 
Rome  there  was  not  one  who  founded  a  hospice  for  the 
poor  or  a  hospital  for  the  sick." 

"The  sympathies  of  the  heathen  have  never  extended 
beyond  the  claas,  or  at  widest  the  nation  ;  but  those  of 
Christianity  are  as  wide  as  the  human  race.  Christianity 
alone  has  established  hospitals  for  an  alien  race  on  the 
simple  ground  of  a  common  human  brotherhood."  — 
"  Life  of  Peter  Parker,  M.D." 

"My  dream  for  the  future  is  to  have  an  army  of  med- 
ical women  come  to  this  country,  to  go  out  two  by  two 


MISSIONARIES  AT   WORK  151 

to  preach  and  to  heal  and  to  teach,  to  show  the  women 
how  to  keep  their  homes  and  surroundings  clean  ;  telling 
them  that  cholera  and  kindred  diseases  are  brought 
about,  not  by  the  intervention  of  an  angry  God,  but  by 
their  own  uncleanliness.  Giving  little  talks  to  them  on 
their  duties  as  mothers,  and  teaching  them  how  not  to 
create  diseases  by  the  awful  treatment  that  kills  or  maims 
the  little  ones  for  life ;  teaching  them  to  use  the  simple 
remedies  that  are  often  so  successful,  and  then,  if  no 
other  remedy  can  be  gotten,  to  trust  them  into  the  hand 
of  an  all-merciful  Saviour,  rather  than  torture  them  as 
they  so  often  do. 

"  My  dream  also  includes  the  establishment  of  train- 
ing-schools for  nurses,  —  Indian  women,  —  so  well  trained 
that  they  will  be  able  to  help  their  unfortunate  sisters, 
and  so  well  trained  in  the  Gospel  that  they  may  carry 
healing  to  the  sin-sick  soul  as  well  as  to  the  diseased 
bodies.  To  that  end  we  need  more  Christian  nurses 
from  home,  to  teach  and  show  by  living  example  what  a 
Christian  nurse  ought  to  be  and  do."  —  Dr.  Ida  Faye 
Levering,  Secunderbad,  India. 

"  Our  first  hernia  operation  was  done  on  one  of  the 
school  tables ;  the  sheets,  towels,  and  sponges  were  ster- 
ilized by  boiling  in  a  galvanized  tub,  which  was  the  only 
thing  available  as  a  sterilizer;  and  they  had  to  be  used 
wet,  as  we  could  not  dry  them  without  danger  of  soiling 
them  again.  It  was  done  in  a  room  with  a  dirt  floor,  and 
native  stools  were  used  to  hold  the  basins.  The  native 
helper,  who  speaks  a  little  English,  stood  by  during  the 
performance  and  was  'all  eyes.'  He  was  fairly  glued  to 
the  spot.  After  the  operation  he  helped  to  carry  the 
patient,    still  unconscious,  to   his    room  and  bed.     The 

next  day  Miss met  him  on  the  street,  and  asked, '  Well, 

what  did  you  see  yesterday?'  He  speaks  a  little  English, 
so  he  replied,  '  I  saw  —  I  saw  —  I  saw  him  die.'  Later  he 
said,  '  When  we  carried  him  home  and  he  was  still  dead 
I  never  thought  he  would  live  again.'    But  he  did,  and 


152   WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

got  well,  and  has  gone  back  to  his  village  as  happy  as  a 
man  could  well  be."  .  .  .  Report  of  Woman  Physician  in 
West  Africa. 

"The  woes  of  Chinese  medical  treatment  bear  with 
special  hardship  on  Chinese  women.  Their  physical 
miseries  are  beyond  estimate.  The  presence  of  an  ed- 
ucated Christian  medical  woman  in  the  sick  room,  wise 
and  winning,  strong  and  sweet,  is  one  of  God's  best  gifts 
to  China."  —  Akthur  II.  Smith. 

"  The  Christian  religion  was  designed  to  be  a  relii,'ion 
of  philanthropy,  and  love  was  represented  as  the  distinc- 
tive test  or  characttM'istic  of  the  true  members.  As  a 
matter  of  fact  it  has  probably  done  more  to  quicken  the 
affections  of  mankind,  to  promote  piety,  to  create  a  pure 
and  merciful  ideal  than  any  other  influence  that  has  ever 
acted  upon  tiie  world."  —  Lecky,  "  History  of  the  Rise 
and  luliuence  of  the  Spirit  of  Kationalism  iu  Europe." 

REFERENCE    BOOKS 

Opportunities  in  the  Path  of  the  Great  Physician 
Penrose.     Westminster  Press,  1902. 

Medical  Missions,  Tlicir  Place  and  Power.  J.  Lowe. 
Revell. 

Healing  of  the  Nations.  "Williamson.  Student  Volun- 
teer Movement,  1899. 

Between  Life  and  Death.  Irene  Barnes.  Marshall 
Bros.,  1901. 

Just  what  they  Need.  Story  of  the  North  India 
School  of  Medicine.  Dr.  Alice  B.  Condict.  London, 
Morgan  &  Scott,  1904. 

Mosaics  from  India.  Margaret  B.  Denning.  Revell, 
1902. 

Life  for  God  in  India.     II.  S.  Dyer.     Revell,  190.3. 

While  sewing  Sandals.  Emma  Rausenbusch  Clough. 
Revell. 

Travel    and    Adventure     in    Tibet     (contains    Anne 


MISSIONARIES  AT   WORK  153 

Taylor's  Journal).  Carey  Williams.  Hodder  &  Stough- 
ton,  1902. 

By  Lake  and  Forest.  Francis  Audry  &  Eva  Green. 
London,  Church  Mission  House,  1905. 

Philanthropy  in  ^iissions.  Grant  Henry.  Presbyterian 
Foreign  Missionary  Library,  156  Fifth  Ave.,  New  York, 
1901. 

]\Iary  Keed,  Missionary  to  Lepers.     Revell,  1899. 

Industrial  Training  of  Famine  Children.  Bombay 
Book  &  Tract  Society,  1901. 

Memories  of  Zenana  Missionary  Life.  S.  F.  Latham. 
London,  Religious  Tract  Society,  1902. 

God  First.  Hester  Xeedham's  Work  in  Sumatra. 
Needham.     Religious  Tract  Society,  London,  1899. 

Women's  Work  for  Women  in  Korea.  Missionary  Re- 
view of  World,  July,  1905;  Missionary  Review  of  Worlds 
January,  1899. 

Lady  Missionaries  in  Foreign  Lands.  Pitman.  S.  W. 
Partridge,  London. 

Eminent  Missionary  AVomen.  Mrs.  J.  T.  Gracey. 
Eaton  &  Mains,  1898. 

Missionary  Heroines  in  Eastern  Lands.  Pitman. 
Revell. 

Empire  Builders.  Church  Missionary  Society,  London, 
1905. 

Missionaries  at  Work.  Georgiana  A.  Gollock.  Church 
Missionary  Society,  London. 

Snapshots  from  Sunny  Africa.  Helen  E.  Springer. 
Revell,  1909. 


CHAPTER   IV 

Mrs.  Thomas  C.  Doremus,  the  Elect  Lady.  Isa- 
bella Thobukn,  Pioneer  Teacher.  Charlotte 
Tucker,  a  Lady  of  Lndia.  Clara  Swain,  the 
AVoMAN  Physician.  Eleanor  Chesnut,  Mis- 
sionary Martyr. 


CHAPTER   IV 

THE   WOMEN    BEHIND   THE   WORK 

A  Few  Biographical  Sketches 

MISSIONARY   WIVES   AND   MOTHERS 

A  PHRASE  that  obtained  wide  currency  during  Workers 
the  Spanish-American  War  was  "the  man  be- 
hind the  gun."  The  American  people  had 
pressed  home  upon  them  in  that  brief  struggle, 
that  even  more  important  than  battle-ships  and 
modern  guns  were  the  men  who  ran  the  battle- 
ships and  trained  the  guns.  Even  so,  in  our 
work  the  energy  is  personal  ;  and  real  success 
is  in  our  workers  behind  the  work.  Volumes 
might  be  devoted  to  the  life  stories  of  the  women 
through  whom  all  these  good  deeds  and  blessed 
ministries  have  been  done.  Even  in  an  outline 
study  like  the  present  we  must  get  a  glimpse 
of  the  persons  who  have  meant  so  much  to  the 
cause  of  Christ  in  the  world.  The  number  is 
so  great  that  any  selection  is  difficult.  It  has 
seemed  wiser,  therefore,  to  speak  chiefly  of 
pioneers  and  early  workers.  In  addition  to  the 
five  selected,  many  others  will  occur  to  all, 
equally  worthy  of  mention,  as  well  repaying 
study.  These  were  chosen  because  they  rep- 
resent distinct  phases  of  the  missionary  work 
of  women. 

157 


158  WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

HOME  MAKERS 

There  is  one  class  of  missionary  women  whose 
work  is  for  the  most  part  unrecognized.  In 
some  denominations  they  are  enumerated  as  a 
sort  of  an  afterthought,  a  class  apart  from  real 
missionaries  :  male  missionaries,  so  many,  female 
missionaries,  so  many,  missionaries'  wives,  so 
many.  Let  us  begin  our  study  by  a  tribute  to 
the  missionary  wife  and  mother!  Of  her  might 
be  spoken,  almost  without  change,  Paul's  ring- 
ing words,  in  regard  to  his  own  mission: 

"In  much  patience,  in  afflictions,  in  necessities,  in  dis- 
tresses, in  stripes,  in  imprisonments,  in  tumults,  in  labors, 
in  watcliiiigs,  in  fastings;  by  pureness,  by  knowledge,  by 
long-suffering,  by  kindness,  by  a  pure  spirit,  by  love  un- 
feigned, by  the  word  of  truth,  by  tlie  power  of  God,  by 
the  armor  of  righteousness  on  the  right  hand  and  on  the 
left,  by  honor  and  dishonor,  by  evil  report  and  good  re- 
port; as  unknown,  and  yet  well  known;  as  dying,  and 
behold  we  live;  as  chastened,  and  not  killed  ;  as  sorrow- 
ful, yet  alway  rejoicing;  as  poor,  yet  making  many  rich  ; 
as  having  nothing,  yet  possessing  all  things." 

The  perils  of  the  missionary  pioneers  were 
shared  by  the  pioneer  wives.  Judson  in  his 
prison,  Moffat  with  the  savages  in  South 
Africa,  Chalmers  in  the  wilderness  of  New 
Guinea,  Hunt  and  Calvert  in  blood-stained 
Fiji,  Paton  in  the  New  Hebrides,  all  these  and 
hundreds  more  had  some  woman  who  stood 
shoulder  to  shoulder  with  them,  sharing  weari- 
ness, danger,  loneliness,  sickness,  death.  In  the 
opening  years  of  the  Sierra  Leone  Mission,  twelve 


THE    WOMEN  BEHIND    THE    WORK      159 

missionaries,  seven  men  and  five  wives,  were 
sent  out  in  1823.  Of  the  twelve,  six  died  that 
year  and  four  more  in  eighteen  months.  Not 
one  of  the  women  survived.  In  the  churchyard 
at  Kissey,  Sierra  Leone,  are  the  graves  of  Mrs. 
Kissling,  Mrs.  Graf,  and  Mrs.  Schlenker,  each 
with  her  babe  sleeping  beside  her.  None  of 
them  lived  more  than  six  months  after  reaching 
the  mission  field. 

In  his  survey  of  women's  work  in  the  Church  Remarkable 
of  England  Missionary  Society,  Eugene  Stock 
continues  his  roll-call  of  heroic  wives.  One  of 
these,  Jane  Williams,  went  to  New  Zealand  in 
1823,  saw  sixty-eight  years  of  service,  and  the 
reclamation  to  civilization  and  Christianity  of 
the  entire  island.  Another,  Mrs.  Baker,  of 
Travancore,  had  continuous  service  from  1818 
to  1888,  seventy  years,  twenty-two  of  them 
widowed.  jNIrs.  Thomas,  of  Tinnevelli,  died  at 
her  post  in  1899  after  sixty-one  years  of  service^ 
twenty-nine  of  these  as  a  widow. 

In  the  history  of  the  United  States  there  are  Contribu- 
hundreds  of  pages  devoted  to  the  Pilgrim  Fa-  *^°°^* 
thers,  to  one  devoted  to  the  Pilgrim  Mothers.  You 
might  almost  think  there  were  no  women,  to  read 
the  ordinary  school  history.  So  also  in  mission- 
ary history,  there  is  a  tendency  to  pass  over 
lightly  the  contribution  of  missionary  wives  and 
mothers.  Yet  their  contributions  are  many  and 
varied. 

1.    By   maintaining   a   Christian   home    they 


160   WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

double  the  efficiency  of  the  missionary  himself ; 
care  for  his  health,  look  out  for  his  comfort,  pray 
for  his  work,  enlarge  the  circle  of  his  friends,  en- 
courage him  in  his  despondency, —  in  short  do  for 
him  what  any  good  wife  does  for  her  husband. 

2.  To  a  very  large  degree  tliey  share  in  his 
work.  It  was  Ann  Hasseltine  Judson,  of  Burma, 
who  first  called  the  attention  of  our  country  to 
Siam  ;  found  time  to  learn  the  language,  and  to 
translate  the  Gospel  of  Matthew  into  Siamese. 
It  was  Mrs.  Titus  Coan  who  began  the  educa- 
tion of  Hawaiian  girls  in  Hilo.  It  was  Mrs. 
Gulick  who  laid  the  foundations  for  the  higher 
education  of  Spanish  girls  when  herself  a  busy 
wife  and  mother. 

3.  They  maintain  the  social  life  of  the  mission. 
It  is  said  of  Mrs.  Cyrus  Hamlin,  Mrs.  Robert 
Moffat,  Mrs.  Jessup,  tliat  their  homes  offered  an 
almost  patriarchal  hospitality  for  both  friend  and 
stranger.  And  this  is  true  to-day  in  thousands 
of  cases.  The  missionary  wife  is  the  oidy  one 
who  can  possibly  have  that  degree  of  detachment 
from  the  ever  inexorable  pressure  of  work  to 
attend  to  social  duties,  one  of  the  most  impor- 
tant of  the  side  issues  of  missionary  life. 

4.  Her  greatest  service  is  the  founding  of  a 
Christian  home.  One  object  lesson  of  a  real 
home,  incarnate,  tabernacled  among  them,  is 
worth  volumes  of  Christian  apologetics.  To  see 
a  home  where  the  girl  baby  is  as  welcome  as  her 
brother;  where  the  wife  is  queen  and  not  servant; 


THE    WOMEN  BEHIND    THE    WORK      161 

where  husband  and  wife  confer  as  friends;  to 
see  calmness  in  the  face  of  death,  and  happiness 
that  troubles  cannot  drown ;  to  see  the  minutias 
of  everyday  living,  actually  lived  in  sweetness 
and  power  before  tliem  ;  these  things  are  the 
leaven  hidden  in  the  meal  that  will  surely  leaven 
the  whole  lump. 

MRS.  THOMAS  C.  DOREMUS 

The  Elect  Lady 

The  life  and  character  of  this  founder  of  Endow- 
women's  missionary  societies  is  a  richer  legacy  ™®"*'- 
than  any  money :  it  is  at  once  a  challenge  and 
an  inspiration  to  those  who  come  after  her.  If 
our  study  this  year  accomplished  nothing  more 
than  to  bring  the  thousands  of  missionary 
workers  who  will  use  this  book  into  close  and 
loving  contact  with  her  remarkable  life,  it  would 
be  well  worth  while  ;  for  such  lives  are  like 
their  Master's,  full  of  resurrection  power. 

All  good  graces  clustered  about  her  cradle, 
like  the  fairies  in  the  fairy  story.  She  had 
beauty  and  wealth,  high  social  position,  devoted 
parents,  a  husband  in  perfect  sympathy  with  all 
her  aims,  and  most  generous  in  furthering  them  ; 
she  had  temperament  and  charm,  wisdom,  dis- 
cretion, and  zeal.  Indeed  she  seemed  the  "  per- 
fect woman,  nobly  planned."  The  phenomenal 
power  and  beauty  of  her  life  comes  out  as  we 
study  its  varied  activities. 

1.    Missions.  —  Mrs.  Doremus  said  that  her 


162   WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

interest  in  missions  began  in  1812,  when  as  a 
child  her  mother  used  to  take  her  to  meetings 
held  to  pray  for  the  conversion  of  the  world. 
This  interest  never  flagged.  In  1828  she  with 
other  ladies  organized  relief  to  send  to  the 
Greeks,  then  outraged  by  the  Turks.  In  1835 
she  formed  a  society  to  support  the  heroic 
Madame  Feller  in  her  evangelical  mission  among 
French  Canadians,  and  this  interest  she  sus- 
tained tliroughout  her  life.  In  1834  she  re- 
sponded to  the  appeals  of  Dr.  Abeel,  as  avc  have 
seen  (p.  23),  and  in  1861  became  the  president 
of  the  first  woman's  foreign  missionary  society 
in  America  (p.  24).  But  this  organized  work 
is  only  the  bony  framework  of  her  unceasing 
labors  for  missions.  She  provided  the  outfits 
for  missionaries  going  to  the  field;  she  personally 
welcomed  them  as  they  returned.  Of  whatever 
denomination  it  made  no  difference,  all  were 
loved  and  cherished.  Her  home  was  open  to 
receive  them  in  unstinted  hospitality.  Once 
going  to  the  docks  to  welcome  one  of  the  mis- 
sionaries of  the  Union  Missionary  Society,  she 
found  on  board  a  sick  missionar}'-  of  another  so- 
ciety with  his  wife  and  six  children.  These  she 
cared  for  as  if  they  were  her  own,  ministering 
to  them  with  the  greatest  delicacy  and  tact.  In 
many  ways  she  used  her  beautiful  home  to 
further  missionary  enthusiasm ;  as  when  she 
invited  two  hundred  ministers  and  their  wives 
to  a  reception  in  honor  of  Bishop  Boone  and  a 


THE    WOMEN  BEHIND    THE    WORK      163 

party  of  twelve  missionaries  about  to  sail  with 
him  to  China.  Her  care  extended  to  all  the 
details  of  personal  comfort  in  the  staterooms, 
none  too  comfortable  in  those  days.  In  the 
early  days  of  the  Sandwich  Island  missions  she 
took  the  deepest  interest  in  the  schools.  Funds 
failing,  these  were  likely  to  be  closed.  Mr. 
Doremus  just  then  gave  his  wife  an  elegant 
shawl  in  the  very  height  of  fashion ;  but  she 
besought  him  instead  to  let  her  give  the  price 
to  the  schools.  She  also  prepared  with  her  own 
hands  a  box  of  exquisite  fancy  work  and  em- 
broidery which  was  sold  for  $500. 

2.  Philanthropies.  —  For  most  women  the  work 
done  by  Mrs.  Doremus  for  foreign  missions  would 
have  taxed  all  their  energies.  Her  abounding 
life  poured  its  riches  into  many  channels.  When 
Dr.  Sims  was  founding  the  first  woman's  hos- 
pital in  the  world,  in  1855,  he  said  he  could 
make  no  headway  with  the  project  until  he 
went  to  Mrs.  Doremus,  who  touched  it  and  it 
lived.  Tiiree  hundred  physicians  in  one  hall 
had  unanimously  approved ;  eminent  ladies  had 
encouraged  the  noble  enterprise ;  but  nothing 
happened.  He  went  to  Mrs.  Doremus,  ex- 
plained the  plan  ;  she  took  her  pencil,  wrote 
down  the  names  of  the  ladies  who  must  be  put 
at  the  head,  and  in  six  days  the  first  board  meet- 
ing was  held.  She  took  no  office,  but  went  to 
Albany,  secured  a  charter,  and  an  appropriation 
of  $10,000. 


164     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

She  was  manager  of  the  Home  of  Industry, 
the  City  Prison  Association,  the  City  Bible  So- 
ciety, the  Cliildren's  Hospital,  the  Gould  Me- 
morial for  I talo- Americans,  the  Presbyterian 
Home  for  Aged  Women,  the  City  Mission  So- 
ciety. To  all  of  them  she  gave  untiring  per- 
sonal service.  She  held  services  in  the  jail, 
aided  discharged  prisoners,  visited  the  hospi- 
tals as  regularly  as  any  physician.  Charac- 
teristically she  preferred  subordinate  positions, 
giving  her  brain  to  organization  and  support, 
and  putting  others  in  honor.  So  God  highly 
exalted  her,  and  gave  her  great  influence  and 
power.  It  used  to  be  said  that  Mrs.  Doremus 
collected  for  so  many  objects  that,  if  a  man  pro- 
fessed lack  of  interest  in  foreign  missions,  she 
could  take  out  a  little  book  for  home  missions, 
that  failing,  others,  until  she  found  some  cause 
that  did  appeal  to  him.  All  her  work  was  done 
with  exquisite  courtesy,  tact,  and  good  humor. 

The  marvellous  feature  about  all  her  mission- 
ary and  philanthropic  service  was  the  wealth  of 
personal  ministry  she  contrived  to  give  in  addi- 
tion to  all  the  administrative  care.  Before  light 
in  the  morning  she  was  at  the  markets,  buying 
with  skill  and  economy  for  her  hospitals  as  well 
as  for  her  own  family.  Late  into  the  night  she 
might  be  found  ministering  to  the  poor  or  the 
dying.  Her  vast  correspondence  with  mission- 
aries all  over  the  world  was  eminently  personal, 
gracious,  full  of  loving  interest.     Her  Sunday- 


THE    WOMEN  BEHIND    THE    WORK      165 

school  work  in  the  infant  class  was  maintained 
throughout  her  life. 

3.  Home  Life.  —  When  one  turns  from  the 
outer  to  the  inner  life,  it  seems  as  if  for  the 
first  time  the  full  beauty  were  seen.  Nothing 
was  allowed  to  interfere  with  her  home  life. 
She  was  the  devoted  mother  of  nine  children, 
besides  adopting  and  caring  for  several  others. 
She  was  the  sunshine  of  the  house  :  entertaining 
lavishly,  interesting  herself  in  her  son's  scien- 
tific pursuits  and  inviting  his  friends  to  the  home, 
painting  with  the  children,  teaching  them  to 
sew,  inventing  patterns  for  embroidery,  model- 
ling in  wax  with  marvellous  quickness.  To  her 
grandchildren  she  was  adorable,  full  of  play, 
making  believe  with  them,  telling  stories  and 
devising  new  games.  The  procession  of  guests 
who  shared  the  bountiful  hospitality  of  the 
home  all  speak  of  its  taste,  its  charm,  its  perfect 
appointments  and  noiselessly  perfect  machinery. 
The  cheerful  conversation  at  table,  the  irradi- 
ating love  and  comfort,  the  peace  flowing  like  a 
river,  made  Mrs.  Doremus's  home  seem  a  fit 
emblem  of  the  heavenly  life. 

What  was  the  secret  of  such  a  life  poured 
out  in  inexhaustible  richness  by  hands  tliat  were 
never  strong  ?  This  frail,  delicate  woman  car- 
ried on,  unfaltering,  tasks  that  would  stagger 
a  giant.  There  is  but  one  answer.  Perfectly 
consecrated  to  Christ's  service,  she  yielded  her 
life  into   his  control,   and   the    fulness   of   his 


166     WESTERN  ]VOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

power  flowed  through  her  life  unhindered. 
"A  heart  at  leisure  from  itself  to  soothe  and 
sympathize  "  was  hers.  Her  powers  were  not 
frittered,  but  directed. 

"  Mrs.  Doremus  gave  the  whole  of  herself  to 
the  Lord  ;  the  whole  of  herself  to  the  Church; 
the  whole  of  herself  to  every  suffering  heart 
she  met,  and  yet  the  whole  of  herself  to  her 
home  and  children,"  said  Dr.  Tyng  at  her  me- 
morial service,  when,  in  1877,  her  beloved  form 
was  laid  to  rest. 

"  Here,"  said  her  pastor,  ''here  is  her  epitaph, 
written  eighteen  hundred  years  ago  by  St.  Paul : 
'  Well  reported  of  for  good  works  :  she  liath 
brouglit  up  children  ;  she  hath  lodged  strangers  ; 
she  hath  washed  the  saints'  feet ;  she  hath  re- 
lieved the  afflicted  ;  she  hath  diligently  followed 
every  good  work.'  " 

ISABELLA   TIIOBURN" 

Pioneer  in  Education 

Early  This    pioneer    missionary    sent    out    by   the 

years.  Methodist    women    has   a   large    place   in    the 

story  of  women's  work  in  missions.  The 
canny  child  had  the  wisdom  to  pick  out  parents 
of  Scotch-Irish  extraction,  and  the  State  of 
Ohio  for  a  birthplace,  a  conjunction  that  cer- 
tainly gave  her  a  long  start  on  the  road  to  fame. 
She  belonged  to  a  big  family,  ten  sturdy  boys 
and  girls.  Her  mother  seems,  by  force  of  per- 
sonality and  character,  to  belong  to  that  rare 


THE    WOMEN  BEHIND    THE   WORK      167 

group  with  the  mothers  of  the  Wesleys,  Living- 
stons, Patons,  McKays,  and  Pattesons.  There 
were  not  many  schools  in  the  West  when  Isa- 
bella Thoburn  was  a  girl,  and  there  were  few 
educated  women.  Her  mother,  however,  appre- 
ciated education  with  the  passionate  intensity 
of  the  New  England  traditions  that  controlled 
the  thought  of  Ohio,  and  sent  her  daughter, 
after  finishing  the  common  schools,  to  the 
Wheeling  Female  Seminary,  and  after  that  to 
the  Art  School  of  Cincinnati. 

Of  course  she  taught  school ;  began  when 
she  was  eighteen  in  a  district  school,  and 
marched  steadily  on  and  up  to  responsible  po- 
sitions. During  the  Civil  War  she  ministered 
to  sick  and  wounded  soldiers,  and  at  the  close 
of  the  war  continued  her  teaching.  Here  she 
might  have  remained,  one  of  the  army  of  de- 
voted and  successful  teachers  who  were  build- 
ing their  lives  into  the  nation,  had  not  a  call 
come  for  her  to  undertake  a  more  difficult  and 
unpopular  task. 

Her   youngest   brother,   James,  now  Bishop  Call  to 
Thoburn,  had  sfone  as  a  missionarv  to  India,    ""^^'oo^'^ 

'  o  J  service 

There  he  came  face  to  face  with  the  oppression 
of  Hindu  women,  their  helplessness,  their  isola- 
tion. As  he  studied  the  problem,  he  realized 
that  the  churches  would  never  solve  it  by  send- 
ing out  men  ;  and  that,  however  noble  the  work 
of  the  missionary  wives,  they  were  inadequate 
to  accomplish  it.     He  saw  that  the  key  was  in 


168     WES  TERN  WOMEN  IN  EA  S  TERN  LA  NDS 

the  education  of  the  girls  of  India.  He  wrote, 
summoning  his  sister  to  come  to  India  and 
undertake  the  work.  She  went  as  the  first 
missionary  sent  out  by  the  Woman's  Board. 
Finding  her  Ou  reaching  India,  slie  found  that  not  even 
p  ace.  j^gj,  missionary  brother  fully  comprehended  the 

magnitude  of  the  step  taken.  Bishop  Thoburn 
himself  has  told  us  how  quietly  and  j^et  with 
what  dignity  she  made  it  plain  to  him  that  she 
had  not  come  to  India  to  be  his  clerk,  but  to 
begin  a  great  and  needed  work.     He  writes: 

"I  was  not  quick,  however,  to  learn  that  the  ladies 
sent  out  to  the  work  were  missionaries,  and  that  their 
work  was  quite  as  important  as  my  own.  A  few  days 
after  my  sister  had  commenced  her  work,  I  found  myself 
pressed  for  time,  and  asked  lier  to  copy  a  few  letters  for 
me.  She  did  so  cheerfully,  and  very  soon  I  had  occasion 
to  repeat  the  request.  The  copying  was  done  for  me,  but 
this  time  I  was  quietly  reminded  that  a  copyist  would  be 
a  great  assistance  to  her  as  well  as  to  myself.  This  re- 
mark made  me  think  ;  and  I  discovered  that  I  had  been 
putting  a  comparatively  low  estimate  on  all  work  which 
the  missionaries  were  not  doing.  Women's  work  was  at 
a  discount ;  and  I  had  to  reconsider  the  situation  and 
once  and  for  all  accept  the  fact  that  a  Christian  woman 
sent  out  to  the  field  was  a  Christian  missionary,  and  that 
her  time  was  as  precious,  her  work  as  important,  and  her 
rights  as  sacred  as  those  of  the  more  conventional  mis- 
sionaries of  the  other  sex.  The  old-time  notion  that  a 
•woman  in  her  best  estate  is  only  a  helper,  and  should 
only  be  recognized  as  an  assistant,  is  based  on  a  very 
shallow  fallacy.  She  is  a  helper  in  the  married  relation, 
but  in  God's  wide  vineyard  there  are  many  departments 
of  labor  in  which  she  can  successfully  maintain  the  posi- 
tion of  an  independent  worker." 


THE    WOMEN  BEHIND    THE    WORK      169 

It  was  not  bj'  any  means  smooth  sailing  that  The  first 
she  found  in  India.  The  native  women  were  ^ 
apathetic  or  antagonistic  to  the  education  of 
girls;  the  native  men,  ditto;  the  Europeans,  and 
even  the  missionaries,  divided  in  opinion,  and 
more  than  half  opposed.  The  delicious  old 
fallacy  held  sway  that  spirituality  and  intellect- 
uality were  more  or  less  opposed.  Many  mis- 
sionaries thought  it  a  misuse  of  missionary 
funds  to  do  more  than  teach  the  natives  to  read 
their  Bibles.  The  need  of  native  leadership 
was  not  fully  recognized;  nor  at  all  so  far  as 
women  were  concerned.  Then,  too,  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  pet  sin  of  race  pride  found  speech  in  the 
fear  that  the  native  girls  would  be  "educated  ouc 
of  their  place  ";  their  place,  of  course,  being  one 
of  grateful  and  graceful  dependence  upon  theii- 
white  friends  and  benefactors  !  Isabella  Tho- 
burn  brushed  all  these  obstacles  aside  like  cob- 
webs. Those  clear,  calm,  gray,  school-teacher 
eyes  of  hers  saw  to  the  bottom  of  the  problem, 
as  they  had  to  the  bottom  of  so  many  others. 
With  no  bluster  or  argument,  but  with  great 
firmness  and  clear  faith,  she  opened  a  school  for 
girls  in  Lucknow.  Seven  timid,  cowed  little 
maidens  gathered  in  the  school  to  be  taught. 
"  Yunas  Singh's  boy,  armed  with  a  club,  kept 
watch  over  the  entrance  to  the  school  lest  any 
rowdy  might  visit  the  displeasure  of  the  public 
upon  the  seven  timid  girls  gathered  inside  and 
the  adventurous  lady  teacher  who  had  coaxed 


170    WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

them  to  come."  This  school  grew  rapidly, 
until  it  became  a  boarding  and  high  school,  and 
later  a  woman's  college. 

A  year  after  the  opening  of  the  school,  the 
need  of  larger  quarters  was  felt.  God  gra- 
ciously opened  the  way  in  one  of  those  minor 
providences  that  seem  set  in  the  years  like 
exquisite  mosaics  of  His  mercy. 

While  Miss  Thoburn  was  searcliing  for  some 
suitable  })lace  wliich  could  be  purchased  by  the 
Society,  she  heard  of  a  beautiful  house  built  by 
a  rich  Moslem,  in  a  garden  plot  of  seven  acres, 
shaded  with  trees  and  fragrant  with  flowers. 
This  estate  was  called  Lai  Bagh,  the  "  Ruby 
Garden,"  quite  the  finest  location  in  tlie  en- 
tire city  for  such  a  school  as  she  desired.  By 
the  goodness  of  God  slie  was  able  to  secure  this 
treasure  for  $7000.  One  imagines  the  joy  of 
this  deep-souled  woman  as  her  poetical  words 
of  description  are  read: 

"  All  about  the  compound  are  trees  and  shrubs,  some 
of  which  are  always  blooming.  AVIien  the  hot  winds  of 
April  are  scorching  the  annuals  in  the  flower  beds,  the 
ainalta  trees,  which  the  English  call  the  Indian  Laburnum, 
hang  their  golden  pendants,  making  a  glory  about  us 
brighter  than  the  morning  sunlight;  while  deeper  than 
the  noon  heats  blaze  the  red  pomegranate  flowers  all 
through  May  and  June.  The  rains  bring  out  the  dainty 
tassels  on  the  babool  trees,  and  lower  down,  the  oleanders, 
which  scarcely  find  breathing  room  amid  the  odors  of 
tuberoses  and  jessamine.  In  October  and  November  the 
Pride  of  India,  a  tall  tree  of  delicate  foliage,  puts  forth 
branches   of  wax-like  white  flowers.     All  through   the 


THE    WOMEN  BEHIND    THE    WORK      171 

cold  season  convolvulus,  begonia,  and  other  creepers  are 
blooming  everywhere ;  clinging  to  the  portico,  up  old 
trees,  over  gateways  and  trellis-work.  A  passion-flower 
covers  one  side  of  the  portico.  February  is  the  month 
of  roses,  and  some  are  blooming  all  the  year  round.  As 
the  days  grow  warmer,  and  March  comes  in,  the  whole 
garden  overflows  with  color  and  sweetness.  Then  there 
is  the  sacred  pepul  tree,  a  banyan,  and  a  palm  ;  also 
seven  wells,  four  of  which  are  stone  built,  each  of  which 
is  a  treasure-house." 

Here  she  lived  and  loved  and  toiled  for  the 
women  of  India  for  thirty-one  years,  and  here 
she  died. 

Rarely  has  there  been  a  more  beautiful  life  Daily  life, 
of  service  than  that  "which  Isabella  Thoburn 
poured  out  in  this  Ruby  Garden  of  girls. 
Her  home  was  the  centre  of  hospitality  for 
the  whole  city.  She  was  never  too  busy  to 
listen  to  tales  of  suffering  and  need ;  never  too 
absorbed  in  her  own  work  to  lend  her  calm 
judgment  to  help  in  the  solution  of  another 
missionary's  problems.  Her  room  was  like 
that  of  the  mother  of  a  large  family.  Here 
she  brought  her  girls  for  quiet  talk  and  prayer 
and  counsel ;  here  she  inspired  them  with  high 
ideals.  Nor  was  the  homely  house-mother  side 
wanting.  In  the  letter  which  Lilavati  Singh 
wrote  just  after  Miss  Thoburn's  death  is  a  little 
touch  which  reveals  this  womanly,  wholesome, 
homely  phase  of  a  many-sided  life.  "  Saturday 
morning  she  did  a  little  gardening  and  made 
cookies  for  us."     Somehow  I  like  to  think  of 


172     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

those  delectable,  spicy,  old-fashioned  cookies 
(was  there  ever  a  word  more  redolent  of  New 
England)  made  by  this  famous  founder  of  a 
famous  college  in  far-away  India. 

She  was  full  of  industry,  too,  rising  at  half 
past  four  to  get  the  cool  morning  hours  for  work, 
and  never  in  bed  until  all  the  big  family  were 
settled. 
Invalided  In   1887  even  lier  solidly  established  health 

lome.  gave  Avay  before  her  incessant  labors,  and  she 

was  forced  to  come  home  for  a  long  rest.      It 
was  five  years  before  she  dared  take  up  again 
her  beloved  work. 
Bi'-iiiiiiing  The  occasion  of  the  development  of  the  high 

colieee  school    into   the   college    came   in   this   way,  a 

little  while  before  Miss  Thoburn  was  obliged  to 
come  home  on  her  long  furlougii  in  1887.  The 
mi)ther  of  one  of  the  high  scliool  girls,  Mrs. 
Chuckerbutty,  was  anxious  that  her  daughter 
should  luive  a  college  education;  but  rather  than 
send  her  to  the  college  then  opening  in  Calcutta, 
non-Christian,  if  not  agnostic  in  religion,  she 
said  she  would  forego  further  education  for  her. 
This  earnest  Christian  woman  contributed  500 
rupees  ;  Miss  Thoburn  succeeded  in  securing  an 
additional  grant;  and  the  college  department 
was  begun  with  three  students.  There  were  no 
reference  books,  apparatus,  microscopes,  encyclo- 
piedias,  telescopes,  or  library  ;  there  were  the 
pupils  and  an  earnest  teacher.  The  department 
was  opened  in  full  faith  that  books  and  apparatus 


rilB    WOMEN  BEHIND    THE    WORK      173 

and  library  and  laboratory  would  be  added  to 
it,  and  they  were.  The  college  was  affiliated 
with  the  Calcutta  University.  By  this  plan  the 
seal  of  the  Government  University  is  put  upon 
the  college,  while  the  girls  are  spared  the  un- 
speakable temptations  that  would  come  to  them 
in  the  University. 

From  the  first  Isabella  Thoburn  believed  in  Spirit  of  tiie 
her  pupils.  She  trained  them  for  responsibility; 
thrust  them  out  into  tasks  they  shrank  from ;  and 
upheld  them  in  the  strong  arms  of  her  love  and 
prayer.  They  repaid  this  trust  with  a  passion- 
ate devotion  rarely  given  a  teacher.  It  was 
her  glory  not  to  build  up  a  work  for  herself  or 
for  other  missionaries,  but  to  raise  up  spiritual 
daughters  who  could  walk  alone. 

The  spirit  of  the  school,  too,  was  one  of  broad 
democracy.  The  insidious  spirit  of  caste  creeps 
so  easily,  even  into  missionary  thoughts,  in  that 
proud  liind.  It  is  so  hard  to  stem  the  tide  ;  so 
easy  to  fall  in  with  wrong  ideas.  But  the  girls' 
school  and  college  was  firm  in  its  stand  that 
there  were  to  be  no  caste  lines,  no  race  lines. 
"  Our  social  Christianity,"  said  Miss  Thoburn, 
"or  our  Christian  socialism  is  largely  in  the 
hands  of  women,  and  we  have  a  part  in  bring- 
ing together  into  one  all  these  diverse  Indian 
tongues  and  peoples." 

In  1899  Miss  Thoburn  came  home  to  rest,  TheEcn- 

-  'II  menical  Con- 

bringing   with   her    a    former    pupil    who    was  ^^^^^^^  j^ 

then  a  teacher  in  the  college,  Lilavati  Singh.    1900. 


174     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

Together  they  spoke  in  various  parts  of  the 
country  to  raise  the  820,000  so  much  needed 
for  new  buildings  and  equipment.  Both  si)oke 
at  the  great  women's  meeting  at  Carnegie  Hall 
during  the  Ecumenical  Missionary  Couference 
in  lUOO.  Those  who  heard  them  will  never  for- 
get it.  Miss  Thoburn's  ideas  in  regard  to  the 
higher  education  of  women  in  India  cannot 
be  better  expressed  than  in  her  own  words  taken 
from  her  address: 

"  The  power  of  educated  womanhood  in  the  world  is 
simply  the  power  of  skilled  service.  We  are  not  in  the 
•world  to  be  ministered  unto,  but  to  minister.  The  world 
is  full  of  need,  and  every  opportunity  to  help  is  a  duty. 
Preparation  for  these  duties  is  education,  whatever  form 
it  may  take  or  whatever  service  may  result.  The  trained, 
which  means  the  educated  in  mind  and  hand,  win  in 
fluence  and  power  simply  because  they  know  how.  Few 
missionaries  have  found  the  expected  in  the  work  awaiting 
them  on  the  field.  We  went  to  tell  women  and  children 
of  Christ,  their  Saviour  and  Deliverer,  and  to  teach 
them  to  read  the  story  for  themselves.  But  instead  of 
willing  and  waiting  pupils,  we  have  found  the  indifferent 
or  even  the  hostile,  to  win  whom  require  every  grace  and 
art  we  know.  We  have  found  sickness  and  poverty  to 
relieve,  widows  to  protect,  advice  to  be  given  in  every  pos- 
sible difficulty  or  emergency,  teachers  and  Bible  women 
to  be  trained,  houses  to  be  built,  horses  and  cattle  to  be 
bought,  gardens  to  be  planted,  and  accounts  to  be  kept 
and  rendered.  We  have  found  use  for  every  facultyj 
natural  and  acquired,  that  we  possessed,  and  have  coveted 
all  that  we  lacked.  But  it  is  not  only  our  power  over 
those  we  go  to  save  that  we  must  consider.  When  saved, 
they  must  have  the  power  over  the  communities  in  which 
they   live.      Intemperance,   divorce,    degrading    amuse- 


THE    WOMEN  BEHIND    THE    WORK      175 

ments,  injurious,  impure,  or  false  literature,  are  all  serious 
hindrances  in  the  mission  field.  Women  must  know  how 
to  meet  them." 

After  the  Ecumenical,  ]\Iiss  Thoburn  returned  Death, 
to  her  work  in  India,  apparently  in  the  best  of 
health  and  strength.  But  the  unceasing  activities 
of  more  than  thirty  years  had  lowered  her  powers 
of  resistance  and  after  a  few  hours'  illness  she 
succumbed  to  what  liad  seemed  to  be  not  an 
alarming  attack  of  cholera,  September  1,  1901. 
In  her  last  moment  her  words  were  all  in  Hin- 
dustani, the  language  of  her  adopted  country. 
In  death  as  in  life  she  belonged  to  her  dear  pupils. 
The  shock  of  her  death  came  like  a  personal  be- 
reavement to  hundreds  throughout  India,  for 
she  had  been  mother  and  friend  as  well  as  great 
organizer  and  teacher. 

One  word  characterized  Miss  Thoburn's  every  Character 
act.  She  was  thorough.  A  thorough  teacher, 
an  organizer  who  planned  through  to  the  details, 
an  investigator  who  was  satisfied  with  nothing 
short  of  underlying  principles.  She  was  thor- 
oughly sane,  sweet,  sound  to  the  core  in  her  sav- 
ing grace  of  common  sense.  She  was  a  thorough 
Christian ;  steady,  sure,  founded,  consecrated, 
dependable ;  and  how  thorough  a  friend  and 
helper  she  was  only  those  whom  she  loved  and 
helped  can  say.  The  influence  of  her  life  is 
destined  to  increase  with  the  years  as  that  of 
a  pioneer  in  education,  who  dreamed  great 
dreams  for  the  women  of  India,  thought  great 


17G     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

thoughts  regarding  their  capability  of  leader- 
ship, and  knew  liow  greatly  to  carry  the  dream 
into  realization. 

CHARLOTTE   TUCKER 

A  Lady  of  England 

How  shall  one  in  a  few  brief  paragraphs  cap 
ture  the  fragrance  and  beauty  of  a  personality 
like  that  of  Charlotte  Tucker?  The  leisurely 
biography  in  which  Miss  Giberne  has  lovingly 
pictured  "  A  Lady  of  England  "  seems  all  too 
short.  Can  one  carry  into  an  abstract  the  elusive 
charm?  If  the  failure  shall  drive  any  to  consult 
the  biography  from  which  these  random  notes 
are  drawn,  I  shall  rejoice  at  a  good  turn  done. 
Early  life.  Charlotte  Tucker,  one  of  a  splendid  family  of 

ten  sons  and  daughters,  was  born  in  1821  to 
an  English  gentleman,  Mr.  Henry  St.  George 
Tucker,  and  his  wife,  Jane  BoswelL  Her  father 
had  been  a  director  of  the  East  India  Company 
and  a  government  officer  in  Bengal  ;  and  her 
five  brothers  all  were  in  the  Indian  service.  Her 
early  life  is  full  of  quiet  simplicity  and  charm. 
The  family  were  united  in  the  tenderest  affec- 
tion. There  were  parties,  games,  charades,  and 
all  sorts  of  merry  pastimes,  as  well  as  the  serious 
concerns  of  a  household  earnestly  religious. 
Charlotte  was  from  the  first  a  person  of  marked 
individuality.  Her  eager  imagination  revelled 
in  the  plays  of  Shakespeare  which  her  father 
delighted  to  read  aloud.  As  a  child  she  began 
to  compose  plays  which  the  other  children  acted 


THE    WOMEN  BEHIND    THE    WORK      177 

out.  She  had  a  fund  of  story  and  of  gay  humor 
that  made  any  place  where  she  was  charming 
and  full  of  life. 

When  not  quite  thirty  years  old,  Charlotte  Writings. 
Tucker  sent  one  of  the  numerous  stories  written 
for  the  pleasure  of  little  nieces  and  nephews  to 
a  publisher.  The  quaint,  unworldly  little  letter 
which  accompanied  the  manuscript  had  no  name 
given  and  no  address.  "  She  asked,"  she  said, 
"for  no  earthly  remuneration." 

One  can  imagine  with  what  eagerness  she 
saw,  some  months  later,  her  "  Claremont  Tales  " 
actually  in  print.  From  that  time  to  the  end  of 
her  long  life  there  was  no  year  in  which  she  did 
not  publish  one  book;  and  several  years  in  which 
her  facile  pen  was  credited  with  a  half  dozen  or 
more.  "  Wings  and  Stings,"  "  The  Giant  Killer," 
"  History  of  a  Needle,"  "  Old  Friends  with  New 
Faces,"  "The  Young  Pilgrim,"  "Fairy  Know- 
a-bit,"  are  some  of  the  hundred  or  more  titles 
of  her  published  works. 

Many  of  her  books  were  wholesome  and 
fanciful  tales  for  children,  with  a  decidedly  di- 
dactic strain  running  through  them,  and  the 
steadfast  purpose  to  advance  Christ's  kingdom. 
Very  early  she  developed  a  highly  figurative  and 
parabolic  style,  which  did  not  add  to  the  vogue 
of  her  books  among  practical  Anglo-Saxons,  but 
actually  prepared  her  for  the  greater  work  of 
her  life,  in  writings  that  appealed  to  the  Orien- 
tal mind. 


178     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 


Becomes  a 

uiissiuiiary. 


For  twenty-five  years  after  she  began  to 
write  the  current  of  her  life  flowed  on  in  its 
accustomed  channels,  and  then,  when  she  was 
fifty-fouryears  old,  came  a  great,  an  astonishing 
break.  These  years  of  middle  life  had  seen 
the  changes  and  sorrows  that  so  often  had 
come.  A  dear  brother,  Robert,  a  judge  in  Fut- 
teypore,  had  been  killed  during  the  terrible 
days  of  the  Indian  mutiny,  andslie  had  the  care 
of  his  children;  her  idolized  younger  sister  had 
married,  a  beloved  niece  and  godchild  had  died 
suddenly,  she  had  tenderly  cared  for  her  father 
and  mother  and  an  older  sister  until  they  too  were 
taken  from  her.  At  last,  with  three-fourths  of 
her  life  journey  behind  her,  she  was  free  from 
all  the  dear  home  ties  and  duties,  able  to  let  a 
controlling  desire  of  her  heart  speak.  She  of- 
fered herself  as  a  missionary  to  India,  to  go  out 
paying  her  own  expenses  as  a  zenana  worker. 
Personality.  Let  US  get  a  clear  picture  of  her  when  this 
step  was  taken.  "  She  had  soft  gray  hair  drawn 
smoothly  away  from  a  fine  brow,  her  clear  gray 
eyes  full  of  intelligence,  and  the  frank  sweet 
smile  playing  over  her  features  made  hers  a 
very  attractive  face."  Her  tall  figure  was 
slight  and  spare.  The  years  had  not  saddened 
her,  but  only  made  more  gentle  her  strong  and 
impetuous  nature.  To  nieces  and  nephews  she 
was  the  beloved"  Aunt  Char"  who  read  Shake- 
speare to  them  while  her  busy  knitting  needles 
flashed  back  and  forth,  who  studied  Dante  with 


THE    WOMEN  BEHIND    THE    WORK      179 

them,  reading  the  sonorous  Italian  with  such 
joy,  who  danced  with  them  those  evenings  at 
home,  gavottes  whose  springy  grace  they  re- 
membered, for  years  afterward.  "No  one 
could  play  games  like  Aunt  Char;  she  seemed 
younger  than  the  youngest  of  us,"  they  said. 
They  remembered  too  the  lively  little  songs 
she  sang,  accompanying  herself  on  the  guitar. 
One  of  them  wrote  years  afterward: 

"  I  think  things  were  only  a  trouble  to  her  when  she 
had  to  do  them  for  herself.  Nothing  was  a  trouble  if  it 
helped  another.  Work  for  the  Master  whom  she  loved 
■was  her  life's  motive.  .  .  .  She  was,  I  think,  the 
most  unselfish  character  I  ever  knew.  She  lived  for 
others;  whether  in  the  great  work  of  her  life,  the  use  of 
her  pen,  the  proceeds  of  wliich  went  to  fill  in  her  charity 
purse,  or  in  the  simple  act  of  leaving  her  quiet  room,  on 
a  dull,  rainy  day,  to  play  a  bright  country  dance  or  a 
Scotch  reel,  and  set  the  little  ones  dancing  to  vent  their 
superfluous  spirits." 

Imagine  the  consternation  when  this  beloved  Motives, 
sister  and  adorable  aunt,  this  popular  author 
and  woman  of  affairs,  announced  her  intention 
to  leave  home  and  friends  as  a  foreign  mission- 
ary. "  Preposterous,  fantastic,  romantic,"  said 
the  startled  friends  and  relatives.  It  was  no 
sudden  fancy  on  Charlotte  Tucker's  part,  but  a 
settled  purpose  quietly  taken  after  looking  the 
whole  ground  over.  India  had  terrible,  crying 
needs;  there  were  pitifully  few  who  were  will- 
ing to  go.  God  had  left  her  free  of  responsibil- 
ity and  ties  holding  her  back.     She  had  means 


180    WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

of  her  own  so  that  no  missionary  funds  need  be 
risked  on  what  might  prove  an  unwise  venture. 
In  lier  letter  to  that  sister  Laura  with  whom 
she  had  shared  every  thought  since  babyhood 
she  said,  "  Do  not  grudge  me,  dear  one,  to  the 
work  for  which  my  soul  yearns.  ...  I 
only  fear  I  am  presumptuous  in  coming  for- 
ward, but  it  seems  as  if  my  dear  Lord  were 
calling  me  to  it,  and  my  heart  says,  '  Here  am 
I;  send  me.'"  The  dear  sister  did  not  try  to 
dissuade  her  though  the  pain  of  parting  was 
like  death  to  them  both.  So  it  came  about  in 
1875  there  sailed  away  to  Bombay  an  eager, 
gray-haired  woman,  still  young  in  heart,  to  be- 
gin eighteen  years  of  blessed  ministry  among  a 
strange  people  in  a  strange  land. 
First  experi-  She  feared  that  it  might  be  difficult  for  her 
to  acquire  a  language  at  her  age,  but  applied 
herself  with  such  intensity  that  at  the  end  of  a 
year  she  passed  her  examination  in  Hindustani. 
She  did  not  even  wait  to  speak  correctly  before 
attem[)ting  conversation  ;  but  practised  her  first 
word  learned  on  tlie  first  one  she  met.  An  amus- 
ing instance  of  this  is  given  in  her  biography. 
On  her  way  up  from  Bombay  she  attended  a  wed- 
ding at  a  mission  station.  Tliough  a  stranger, 
she  threw  herself  into  the  preparations,  helped 
trim  the  chapel,  and  was  left  for  a  half-hour  to 
entertain  a  very  grand  lady,  a  Begum,  who  came 
to  see  the  festivities.  "  I  made  gallant  attempts 
to  keep  up  a  conversation  with  my  dreadfully 


eiices. 


Courtesy  of  Woman's  Work. 

Dr.  Eleanor  Chesnut. 


THE    WOMEN  BEHIND    THE    WORK      181 

bad  Hindustani,  I  dashed  at  it,  tried  to  ex- 
plain .  .  .  answered  questions  regarding  my 
family,  etc.  The  Begum  laughed  and  I  laughed, 
for  I  knew  ray  Hindustani  was  very  bad ;  but  I 
did  remember  always  to  use  the  respectful  'Ap' 
to  the  princess  [honorary  mode  of  address]." 
Evidently  the  princess  liked  this  vivacious 
white-haired  lady,  so  unaffected  and  uncon- 
scious of  self,  so  merry  and  entertaining ;  for 
she  walked  with  her  to  the  weddino-  in  the 
church,  and  stayed  during  tlie  service.  And 
then  this  undaunted  missionary  managed  to  say 
in  her  poor,  stammering  Hindustani,  "  The  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  is  here ;  He  gives  blessing,"  to 
which  the  princess  nodded  assent. 

She  came  into  the  station  at  Amritsar  like  a  Orientaliz 
fresh  breeze.  She  sat  on  the  floor  with  the  na-  ^'^^' 
tive  Christians  at  the  first  church  service.  She 
was  eager  to  see  all,  to  hear  all,  to  learn  all.  "  I 
want  to  Orientalize  my  mind,"  was  her  frequent 
word.  But  all  the  missionaries,  marvelling  at 
the  way  she  seemed  to  understand  the  people 
and  sympathize  with  them,  said,  "  She  was  born 
Oriental,  her  thoughts  seemed  naturally  to  clothe 
themselves  in  tliose  figures  of  speech  in  which 
the  children  of  the  East  are  wont  to  express 
themselves."  She  would  have  been  glad  to  adopt 
native  dress  if  the  other  missionaries  would  have 
permitted ;  and  seemed  perfectly  comfortable  in 
positions  that  are  very  trying  to  most  Europeans. 
She  rode,  for  example,  in  a  native  conveyance 


senauas. 


182     WESTERX  WOMEN  IX  EASTERN  LANDS 

called  the  ekka,  a  springless  platform  on  wooden 
wheels.     On  tliis  bedding  was  placed,  and  there 
she  sat,  gracefully  unconcerned,  with  her  feet 
tucked  under  her,  native  fashion. 
Her  work:  Her  missionary  service  falls  into  three  divi- 

sions. 

Without  sparing  herself,  she  gave  hours  of  every- 
day to  patient  visitation  of  the  zenanas.  During 
the  last  years  of  her  life  her  diary  shows  that 
she  had  access  to  one  hundred  and  seventy  homes. 
Her  methods  were  individual  and  original.  A 
picture,  a  mechanical  toy,  an  allegorical  design, 
served  to  introduce  the  topic  nearest  her  heart, 
the  Gospel  of  Christ.  Her  love  of  little  children 
was  a  passion,  and  often  opened  to  her  jealously 
guarded  doors.  "I  found  myself  stroking  little 
brown  cheeks,"  she  writes  in  her  journal. 
This  tenderness  overflowed  to  animals.  One 
of  her  letters  while  in  England  iiad  told  of 
meeting  a  mole  one  day  and  stooping  to  stroke 
its  smooth  head,  —  ''itwc.  not  in  the  least 
afraid." 

In  her  zenana  visitation  she  seems  to  have 
undertaken  little  systematic  instruction,  but  to 
have  poured  out  her  loving  heart  in  all  the  gra- 
cious, gentle,  beautiful  ministries  she  knew  so 
well  how  to  give. 

Her  influence  among  the  native  Christians  was 
very  great.  She  loved  them  and  they  knew  it, 
and  she  fell  so  easily  into  their  modes  of  thought, 
w^as  so  generously  unselfish  in  relieving  distress, 


THE    WOMEN  BEHIND    THE    WORK      183 

that   she   became   to    them   a   holy   woman,    a 
saint. 

There  was  an  indescribable  lighting  up  of 
her  features  when  she  sang  or  played  the  har- 
monium. Indian  Christians  sometimes  walked 
a  long  distance  to  see  this  unconscious  illumi- 
nation of  her  whole  face  as  she  sang  of  Jesus. 
When  she  was  an  old  woman,  some  one  ex- 
pressed surprise  that  she  could  sing.  "Oh,  I 
sing  every  day,"  she  said  ;  "  if  I  should  stop  a 
day,  my  throat  might  find  out  how  old  I  am." 

The  second  division  of  her  work  was  teach-  Her  work: 
ing.  When,  within  a  year  of  her  settling  at  ^^^^  ^^' 
Amritsar,  a  new  station  was  opened  at  Batala, 
she  felt  called  to  go.  Her  missionary  friends, 
in  view  of  the  isolation  and  greater  hardships, 
and  of  her  social  gifts  and  graces,  urged  her  to 
stay  where  she  could  devote  more  time  to  liter- 
ary work,  have  more  comforts,  and  meet  the 
Europeans  she  was  so  well  fitted  to  influence. 
But  the  inward  call  was  clear,  and  Charlotte 
Tucker  went  to  Batala  to  make  her  home  in 
the  old  palace  which  had  been  bought  for  the 
boys'  school. 

"  From  this  time  foi'th,"  writes  one  of  the  teachers, 
"  for  years  to  come,  Miss  Tucker  was  a  mainstay  of  the 
Boys'  Boai'ding  School,  teaching  the  older  boys  English 
and  histor\%  taking  a  motherly  interest  in  all  their  pur- 
suits, writing  for  them  Batala  school  songs,  invitiug  them 
in  the  evening  to  little  entertainments  enlivened  by  par- 
lor games ;    visiting  the  sick,  comforting  the  homesick 


184    WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 


new  boy;  mothering  the  young  convert ;  besides  carrying 
on  without  fail  her  regular  visits  to  the  town  and  vil- 
lages, and  her  literary  work  in  India  and  England." 

Her  work:  Tliircl    caiiie    the    literary   work    already    al- 

writings.  ludecl  to,  the  writing  of  books  for  Indian  read- 
ers. In  this  she  had  a  genius.  Her  fables  and 
allegories,  her  meditations  on  the  parables  of 
Jesus,  went  straight  to  the  native  heart.  They 
were  translated  into  many  languages,  and  sold 
in  the  most  inexpensive  form  by  the  thousands. 
Indeed,  these  tiny  books  may  well  prove  to  be 
her  most  important  contribution  ;  for  tlieir 
good  work  seems  just  begun  ;  the  demand  for 
them  is  continually  increasing.  The  titles  of 
some  of  them  are :  "  Two  Pilgrims  to  Kashi," 
"The  Prophet  and  the  Leper,"  ''The  Wonder- 
ful Medicine,"  "  Eight  Pearls  of  Blessing," 
"  Story  of  the  Pink  Chaddar,"  "  Turban  with  a 
Border  of  Gold,"  "The  Intercessor,"  "Widows 
and  the  Bible,"  "The  Bag  of  Treasure."  One 
or  more  of  these  were  written  in  the  montli  of 
vacation  that  she  allowed  herself  each  year  of 
her  eighteen  years  of  continuous  service. 
Influence,  Her   personal    influence  among  the  mission- 

aries might  well  be  enumerated  as  her  fourth 
form  of  service.  She  became  "  Auntie "  to 
them  all.  No  wedding  festivities  were  com- 
plete without  her  inimitable  fun  and  frolic 
Her  extreme  simplicity  of  life  was  a  challenge 
to  those  younger  and  stronger.  Siie  allowed 
herself   only  the   bare   necessities   of   life,  and 


THE    WOMEN  BEHIND    THE    WORK      185 

gave  away  all  the  rest  of  her  income  in  such 
secret  and  unostentatious  ways  that  only  the 
recipient  will  ever  know. 

Her  exquisite  humility  of  spirit  smoothed 
away  any  irritation  that  her  impetuous,  impul- 
sive manner  might  have  caused.  "  She  is  be- 
loved and  honored  by  rich  and  poor,  young  and 
old.  She  is  our  sunshine.  Her  bright  fancies, 
her  quick  perceptions,  her  wise  suggestions,  are 
invaluable  to  all  of  us  in  the  mission.  Life 
has  seemed  to  me  a  different  thing  since  God 
brought  her  to  us,"  wrote  Mrs.  Elmslie.  The 
real  inspiration,  after  all,  was  not  in  what  she 
did  or  said,  but  in  what  she  was.  When  she 
read  the  life  of  Bishop  Gobal,  she  said :  ''  A 
humbling  book  ;  I  feel  like  a  barnyard  chicken 
looking  up  at  an  eagle,  and  chirping,  '  I'm  a  bird, 
too.'" 

Speaking  to  another  missionary,  she  said : 
"  We  are  only  the  housemaids.  We  open  the 
door,  but  they  come  in,  and  go  themselves  up 
to  the  king." 

In  one  of  her  letters  to  her  sister  is  a  deli-   Conference 
cious  description  of  a  "  conference  "  where  feeling 
had  run  high  over  some  question  of  policy  when 
she  was  in  the  chair  : 

"  The  question  was  brought  up  again  by  a  strong  lady 
on  one  side,  and  then  a  paper  was  read  by  a  strong  lady 
on  the  other,  and  I  proposed  that  the  vote  should  be  taken 
again,  which  resulted  in  a  majority  of  four,  I  being  one 
of  the  four.  A  lady  in  the  minority  called  out,  *  It  does 
not  matter  what  is  voted,  we  will  all  do  just  the  same  as 


notes. 


186     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

before,*  which  was  more  true  than  polite.  Then  there 
was  anotlier  hady  who  got  up,  time  after  time,  to  make 
the  most  impracticable  propositions  ;  and  she  got  snubbed 
and  sat  down  and  cried.  Oh,  dear,  it  does  not  do  to  be 
so  thin-skinned  I  So  you  see,  dear,  all  did  not  go  quite 
smoothly  when  I  sat  in  the  chair,  with  the  bonnet  on  my 
head  wiiich  you  wore  at  dear  Fred's  wedding." 

"  It  was  clear  that  M.  did  not  admire  my  way  of 
presiding.  I  had  been  voted  the  tlianks  of  the  meeting, 
but  her  honesty  made  me  feel  more  than  ever  that  I  had 
not  been  efficient.     It  is  a  good  thing  to  kuow  the  truth. 

"Is  not  this  a  funny  glimpse  of  life?  ...  I  doubt  my- 
self thiittliere  is  much  use  in  conferences,  except  that  it  is 
nice  that  some  dear  workers  should  meet  and  know  each 
other.     We  had  many  choice  ones." 

The  dear,  sweet-souled  old  body,  and  tlie  dear, 
nauglity  but  very  human  missionary  ladies  ! 

After  more  tlian  eighteen  years  of  faithful 
labor,  God  called  his  old  servant  home  ;  so  frail 
and  worn,  so  brave  and  trusting,  still  pouring 
out  her  remnant  of  strength  ungrudgingly,  but 
oh,  so  weary  and  so  glad  to  go  ! 

In  the  model  Christian  village,  Clarkabad, 
that  has  risen  to  memorialize  Clark  of  the  Pun- 
jab, where  cleanliness  and  thrift,  happy  children 
and  happy  mothers,  schools  and  churciies,  take 
the  place  of  filth  and  misery,  there  has  been 
placed  a  pure  white  stone  in  memory  of  A  Lady 
of  England  who  became  A  Lady  of  India. 

Note.  —  Miss  Tucker  went  out  under  the  Indian  Female 
Normal  Society ;  and  when  in  1880  that  agency  divided, 
she  followed  the  part  which  became  the  Church  of  England 


l.ii.AVATi  Singh,  Acting  Pkksidkni  oi'  Ij  *  kn(isv  Coli.k(;k. 


THE    WOMEN  BEHIND    THE    WORK      187 

Zenana  Missionary  Society.  The  other  section,  under  unde- 
nominational auspices,  became  known  as  the  Zenana  Bible 
and  Medical  Mission. 

CLARA  SWAIN 
Pioneer  Medical  Missionary 
A  more  than  ordinary  interest  attaches  to 
the  personality  and  career  of  the  first  woman 
in  all  the  world  sent  as  a  fully  equipped  medi- 
cal missionary  to  minister  to  women  and  chil- 
dren in  non- Christian  lauds.  In  these  days  it 
is  difficult  to  realize  the  fibre  of  oak  and  steel 
that  the  woman  pioneers  had  to  have.  Their 
paths  were  made  hard  for  them  by  persecution 
and  misrepresentation,  as  well  as  by  social 
ostracism.  Mrs.  Bainbridge  tells  the  story  of 
how  her  mother,  one  of  the  first  women  to 
secure  her  medical  degree,  returned  after  sev- 
eral years'  practice  to  her  native  town.  She 
called  upon  her  old  pastor,  who  returned  her 
card  by  a  servant,  saying  that  he  could  not  con- 
sent to  receive  a  woman  who  had  so  demeaned 
herself.  When  to  the  prejudice  against  women 
doctors  we  add  that  against  foreign  missions, 
and  to  that  the  disapprobation  of  "single  fe- 
males" starting  out  for  work  in  the  Orient, 
we  have  a  triad  that  would  daunt  any  purpose 
but  the  stoutest.  Clara  Swain  came  to  the 
Kingdom  for  just  such  a  time. 

In   her   quiet    country    home    in    the    little   Early  life, 
village  of  Castile,  N.Y.,  the  young  girl  grew  up 
"different"  from  her  rosy,  giggling,  schoolgirl 


188     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

mates.  When  other  girls  were  quite  content 
with  such  stray  crumbs  of  education  as  they 
could  pick  up  in  the  district  school,  she  was 
ambitious  for  an  education  ;  and  got  one,  too,  by 
the  costly  process  of  training  and  self-sacrifice. 
When  there  were  no  foreign  missionary  societies 
to  impress  missions  upon  the  young,  and  most 
people  lived  in  contented  ignorance  of  any  big 
world  outside  their  own  country,  her  alert  im- 
agination was  fired  by  the  scant  records  of 
pioneer  missionaries,  and  she  longed  to  be  a 
missionary.  When  a  woman  doctor  was  anath- 
ema, maranatha^  to  every  orthodox  mind,  this 
quiet  country  girl  decided  that  she  would  be  a 
physician.  The  story  of  her  teaching,  her 
struggles,  cannot  be  told  in  this  brief  sketch. 
Her  first  help  up  the  medical  ladder  was  given  her 
by  a  remarkable  woman.  Dr.  Cornelia  Greene, 
who  had  established  a  sanitarium  at  Castile. 
[It  was  that  Dr.  Greene  who  came  to  an  orphan- 
age in  Rochester  and  asked  for  the  most  un- 
promising and  heavily  handicapped  baby,  that 
no  one  else  wanted  for  adoption  ;  but  "  that 
is  another  story."  ]  After  study  with  Dr.  Greene 
and  invaluable  experience  in  the  sanitarium, 
Miss  Swain  was  finally  able  to  reach  her  heart's 
desire,  and  attend  the  Woman's  Medical 
College  in  Philadelphia.  Slie  was  graduated 
in  1869 ;  and,  as  we  have  already  seen,  sent 
out  in  November  of  the  same  year  to  Bareilly, 
India,  by  the  newly  formed  Woman's  Foreign 


THE    WOMEN  BEHIND    THE    WORK      189 

Missionary  Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church. 

Her  first  work  was  to  establish  a  dispensary  First 
and  form  a  medical  class  of  seventeen  native  '^°'"^- 
girls,  most  of  them  Eurasians,  who  had  already 
been  prepared  b}'  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Thomas  in  the 
hope  of  just  such  an  opening.  For  three  years 
she  continued  her  most  exacting  and  thorough 
instruction  of  these  young  women.  When  they 
were  examined  by  a  Board  of  three  English 
physicians,  thirteen  out  of  the  sixteen  were 
certificated  to  practice.  They  had  been  able  to 
have  the  close  personal  attention  of  Dr.  Swain, 
and  in  the  dispensary  and  orphanage  had  re- 
ceived a  great  deal  more  of  practical  training 
in  the  actual  handling  of  disease  than  falls  to 
the  lot  of  most  medical  students.  Work  pressed 
upon  the  new  doctor  at  once,  one  hundred  and 
eight  patients  coming  to  her  during  the  first  six 
weeks  after  her  arrival.  Many  of  these  were 
from  the  native  Christian  community. 

Quite  contrary  to  the  expectations  of  the  Private 
missionaries,  she  very  soon  began  to  be  called  ^^^'^ 
apon  to  visit  the  native  ladies.  Her  first  case 
<vas  an  interesting  one.  There  was  living  in 
Bareilly  a  Brahman  of  high  standing,  a  govern- 
ment official,  who  had  adopted  advanced  ideas 
of  female  education.  He  sent  his  young  son 
one  day  to  make  salaam  to  the  new  doctor,  with 
the  respectful  request  that  she  would  visit  his 
wife,  who  was  ill.  Dr.  Swain's  own  account  of 
the  visit  is  most  vivid: 


190    WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

"  We  were  received  very  cordially  and  treated  with 
pawn,  or  betel,  served  on  large  leaves,  as  it  would  delile 
their  dishes  to  be  even  touched  by  a  Christian  ;  and  they 
requested  that  we  take  home  the  food  that  we  did  not 
eat,  as  it  would  be  no  use  to  them.  After  seating  us, 
the  gentleman  brought  his  wife  and  introduced  her,  tell- 
ing her  to  shake  hands  with  us,  then  offered  her  a  chair 
and  told  her  to  sit  in  it.  I  am  told  that  this  is  very 
remarkable  —  that  a  native  seldom  pays  his  wife  such 
respect." 

Then  follows  a  full  account  of  the  rich  gar- 
ments and  ornaments  of  tins  poor  sick  lady. 
She  was  dressed  in  silk,  embroidered  in  gold, 
with  a  chuddah  of  tine,  delicate  texture  of  many 
colors,  with  a  deep  gold  and  silver  border. 
Rings  in  her  ears,  hoops  of  pearls  in  hvv  nose, 
gold  chains  on  her  neck,  ten  bracelets  on  each 
arm,  rings  on  all  her  fingers,  her  ankles,  her 
toes,  completed  the  gorgeous  picture. 

Soon  another  gentleman  braved  ridicule  and 
summoned  Dr.  Swain  to  his  sick  wife.  She  found 
the  sick  woman  surrounded  by  servants  on  the 
housetop,  a  very  sanitary  and  sensible  location 
when  contrasted  with  the  stuffy  woman's  court. 

In  both  cases  she  was  successful ;  and  her 
first  visit  was  followed  by  many  others.  One 
of  the  sick  women  could  read,  and  asked  for  a 
Bible  in  her  own  language,  which  she  read  con- 
stantly, and  often  conversed  about  it  with  Dr. 
Swain. 

A  letter  written  about  this  time  by  Mrs. 
Thomas  says  that  Dr.  Swain  had  been  called 


THE    WOMEN  BEHIND    THE    WORK      191 

to  the  best  and  wealthiest  families,  and  in  no 
case  had  she  failed  to  command  their  respect 
and  confidence.  She  had  lost  but  three  jjatients; 
and  those,  children  to  whom  she  was  called  in 
the  last  extremity.  In  the  first  3'ear  she  was 
called  to  sixteen  different  zenanas,  prescribed 
for  twelve  hundred  patients  at  the  dispensary, 
and  made  two  hundred  and  fifty  visits  to  the 
homes  of  patients. 

The  growing  work  of  the  dispensary  soon  made  How  the 
the  need  of  a  hospital  evident.  The  homes  of  wan'*^ 
the  poor  were  dark,  dirty,  utterly  unsuited 
for  surgical  cases.  Dr.  Swain's  own  room  was 
all  too  small,  even  for  the  dispensary.  She 
knew  that  a  suitable  hospital  building  would 
cost  at  least  ten  thousand  dollars,  but  thought 
half  that  amount  might  be  raised  on  the  field. 
While  they  were  corresponding  and  investigat- 
ing possible  sites  for  the  hospital,  the}'  had  a 
marvellous  gift.  What  could  be  more  improb- 
able than  that  a  Mohammedan  prince,  bitterly 
opposed  to  Christianity,  should  deed  to  the 
mission  for  hospital  purposes  forty-two  acres  of 
land,  containing  an  immense  brick  house,  trees, 
two  fine  old  wells,  and  a  garden  ?  Yet  this  im- 
probable thing  happened,  exactly  like  a  tale 
from  the  "Arabian  Nights." 

The  Nawab  of  Rampore  owned  this  delectable 
piece  of  property  adjoining  the  mission;  the 
missionaries  cast  longing  eyes  at  it,  but  never 
dreamed  that  the  Nawab  would  ever  sell  it,  much 


192     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANJJ6 

less  give  it  for  such  a  purpose,  as  he  was  known 
to  have  boasted  that  no  missionary  should  ever 
set  foot  in  his  city  of  Rampore.  It  was  a  Brit- 
ish commissioner  who  advised  them  in  this  di- 
lemma to  go  straight  to  the  Nawab  and  present 
their  request  in  person. 

What  follows  sounds  strange  in  the  everyday 
annals  of  missions.  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Thomas  and 
Dr.  Swain  decided  to  go  to  Rampore,  forty  miles 
distant,  and  present  their  request  to  the  prince. 
When  he  heard  they  were  coming,  he  sent  relays 
of  horses  and  a  grand  state  coach  with  grooms 
and  outriders  and  an  escort  of  cavalry.  They 
entered  the  city  amid  the  salaams  of  bowing  in- 
habitants, and  were  driven  to  the  house  reserved 
for  the  guests  of  royalty,  where  they  feasted  on 
Oriental  banquets  of  great  magnificence.  That 
night  the  prince  had  his  guests  driven  about 
the  city,  but  excused  himself  on  the  plea  that 
he  was  specially  engaged  in  his  prayers.  The 
next  morning  the  wondering  missionaries  were 
admitted  to  the  palace,  while  royal  elephants 
made  obeisance  on  the  right  hand  and  on  the 
left.  They  entered  the  "  presence,"  and  were 
seated  by  the  side  of  royalty.  After  compli- 
ments had  been  exchanged,  the  Prime  Minit^ter 
told  Mr.  Thomas  to  make  his  request,  which  he 
began  in  much  trepidation  to  do.  He  got  no 
farther  than  to  explain  the  purpose  for  which 
they  were  desirous  of  securing  the  estate  in 
iJareilly,  belonging  to  his  highness,  when   the 


THE    WOMEN  BEHIND    THE    WORK      193 

prince  smiled,  and  said  graciously:  "Take  it. 
take  it.  I  give  it  to  you  with  much  pleasure 
for  such  a  purpose."  The  amazed  missionaries 
could  only  stammer  thanks  for  the  princely  gift 
and  return  home  in  a  daze  of  bewildered  grati- 
tude. Imagine  the  joy  in  the  mission,  as  they 
rehearsed  the  wondrous  tale,  and  the  thanks- 
giving that  went  up  to  the  God,  who  had  so 
graciously  answered  prayer. 

Thus  the  site  for  the  first  woman's  hospital  in  The  first 
all  India  came  into  the  possession  of  the  mission.  J^'^^J^L 
The  grounds  had  to  be  enclosed,  the  roads  built, 
the  house  repaired  and  adapted  for  a  residence 
for  the  missionaries,  and  a  new  building  erected 
for  the  hospital  and  dispensary.  The  dispen- 
sary consisted  of  six  rooms,  a  clinic  where  patients 
were  received,  an  operating  room,  an  office,  a 
lecture-room,  and  two  rooms  used  for  bathing. 
The  hospital  dormitories,  with  long  verandas, 
were  built  of  brick,  plastered  inside  and  out,  and 
tinted.  Hindus,  Christians,  and  Mohammedans 
had  their  separate  quarters. 

At  first  the  hospital  patients  came  slowly,  dis- 
trustful of  so  great  an  innovation.  The  second 
year  there  were  fifty  patients  in  the  hospital 
and  thousands  in  the  dispensary.  Quite  a  pro- 
portion of  the  hospital  patients  were  high-caste 
Hindus  who  were  allowed  to  bring  family  ser- 
vants, so  that  they  might  not  break  caste.  One 
woman,  when  asked  why  she  brought  her  hus- 
band, said  that  if  she  came  alone  her  friends 


194    WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

would  give  her  a  bad  name.  These  shut-in  ladies 
loved  the  freedom  of  the  hospital  and  shaded 
garden,  where  they  could  walk  without  reproach. 
"  If  1  walk  out  at  home,"  said  one,  "my  friends 
and  neighbors  think  I  am  very  bad." 
Home  on  At  the  end  of  five  years  of  strenuous  .abor, 

furlough.  j^j,  Swain's  health  broke  down,  and  she  was  sent 
home  to  recuperate.  It  was  four  years  before 
her  shattered  strength  was  sufficiently  built  up 
for  her  to  return  to  her  beloved  work.  On  her 
return  slie  found  everything  going  on  prosper- 
ously, and  once  more  devoted  herself  to  the  ever 
expanding  active  ministries  of  the  hospital. 
A  summons  For  the  second  time  this  plain  American 
I'lr^T  ^^^'  woman  was  to  come  in  contact  with  royalty.  Not 
more  than  a  year  after  her  return  a  native  secre- 
tary of  the  Rajah  of  Khetri  (Rajpootani)  called 
on  Dr.  Swain  to  know  whether  she  would  attend 
the  Rani  (wife  of  the  Rajah)  if  summoned.  It 
seems  he  had  called  on  several  women  physi- 
cians with  the  same  request,  and  was  to  make  a 
report  to  the  Rajah  of  what  he  learned  of  their 
ability  and  reputation.  In  about  a  month  a 
telegram  came,  summoning  her  to  be  ready  to 
go  to  Khetri  in  ten  days,  when  her  escort  sliould 
arrive.  She  departed  in  great  state  with  a  na- 
tive Christian  teacher,  a  companion,  an  English 
nurse,  a  cook,  and  two  servants.  The  journey 
was  picturesque,  if  a  bit  slow  and  fatiguing. 
There  was  a  camel  chariot,  two  palanquins  carried 
by   seventeen  men  each,  riding-horses  and  ele- 


alty 


THE    WOMEN  BEHIND    THE    WORK      195 

phants,  and,  for  the  two  native  servants,  a  rath 
drawn  by  beautiful  white  oxen.  An  escort  of 
one  hundred  men-servants  protected  the  train  of 
the  foreign  doctor  summoned  to  the  Rani. 

When  the  Rani  was  much  improved  under  A  novel 
Dr.  Swain's  skilful  treatment,  the  Rajah  pro-  P°^i*^°°- 
posed  to  Dr.  Swain  that  she  remain  as  palace 
physician  for  the  women  and  children  and  open 
a  dispensary  for  the  women  of  the  city  and  sur- 
rounding country.  At  first  she  did  not  leel  that 
she  could  leave  her  beloved  hospital  ;  but,  as 
she  prayed  and  thought,  it  seemed  to  her  more 
and  more  clear  that  the  Lord's  hand  was  in  it. 
Here  was  an  opening  to  a  field  not  before  open 
to  the  missionaries,  a  native  state  comprising 
millions  of  people.  These  Rajpoots  would  never 
call  a  missionary,  never  listen  to  preaching  in 
the  bazaars.  But  here  she  was  in  a  position  to 
meet  leading  people,  free  to  go  and  come,  urged 
to  open  a  dispensary.  She  decided  to  remain  in 
the  place  where  God  had  so  strangely  led  her. 
Permission  was  secured  to  open  a  school  where 
hf^r  companion  could  teach.  Shs  was  left  per- 
fectly free  to  teach  Christianity  and  the  Bible 
to  the  Rani  and  her  little  daughter.  Here  for 
seventeen  years  this  noble  missionary  of  the 
cross  lived  and  worked.  In  and  out  of  the 
market-place  she  moved,  ministering  to  the 
sick.  She  distributed  copies  of  the  Scripture; 
holy  hymns  were  sung  by  the  women  in  the 
palace. 


19G     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EA STERN  LA  NDS 

In  1896  she  retired  from  active  service  and 
returned  to  Castile,  N.Y.,  where  she  still  makes 
her  home.  During  the  Jubilee  celebration  of 
the  founding  of  Methodist  missions  in  India, 
1907-1908,  she  had  the  great  joy  of  revisiting 
the  land  of  her  adoption  and  of  noting  at  Ba- 
reilly,  and  in  many  other  places,  the  growth  of 
the  medical  work  that  she  had  so  successfully 
pioneered. 

ELEANOR  CHESNUT 

Missionary  Martyr 

As  I  write,  there  lies  before  me  a  picture  of 
a  young  woman  with  softly  flowing  garments 
seated  at  rest  in  a  large  cliair.  Her  head  is 
crowned  with  a  coronet  of  soft  dark  hair.  Her 
brow  is  beautifully  calm,  and  her  eager  eyes 
look  straight  out  at  you  from  level  brows.  The 
face  is  full  of  strength  and  sweetness — a 
thoughtful,  earnest,  purposeful  face.  The  pic- 
ture is  beautiful.  She  seems  about  to  smile, 
but  a  mysterious  questioning,  unafraid  yet 
sober,  is  in  the  firm  lips.  My  eyes  fill  with 
sudden  tears  as  I  look  into  Eleanor  Chesnut's 
brave  eyes,  and  think  of  the  precious  gift  of 
life  she  poured  out  for  Christ  in  far-away 
China. 

There  are  many  shadows  in  her  brief  story, 
but  no  sadness.  She  lost  father  and  mother 
when  hardly  more  than  a  baby,  and  knew  hard 
poverty  under  conditions  that  made  education 


THE    WOMEN  BEHIND   THE    WORK      197 

seem  all  but  impossible.  It  was  just  when  her 
ambitious  nature  was  in  danger  of  becoming 
bitter  from  the  hard  conditions  of  her  life  that 
she  heard  of  Park  College  as  a  place  where 
poor  boys  and  girls  were  given  a  chance  to  work 
for  an  education.  She  wrote  to  the  President, 
Dr.  McAffee,  telling  her  circumstances,  and 
was  bidden  to  come  on. 

That  she  lived  through  those  years  of  prepa-  College  life, 
ration  and  college  life  was  due  not  less  to  her 
own  resolute  bearing  of  hard  work  and  insuffi- 
cient food  than  to  the  great  kindness  of  the 
college  authorities,  who  did  all  that  was  possible 
to  assist  her.  It  was  never  easy  for  her  to  ac- 
cept assistance,  and  she  could  not  learn  not  to 
feel  hot  rebellion  at  having  to  accept  it. 

While  in  college  she  became  a  Christian,  and 
decided,  if  the  way  could  be  opened,  to  study 
medicine  and  go  as  a  missionary.  She  entered 
the  Woman's  Medical  College  in  Chicago, 
where,  during  the  first  year,  writes  her  intimate 
friend,  "  She  lived  in  an  attic,  cooked  her  own 
meals,  and  nearly  starved." 

After  medical  college  she  entered  the  Train- 
ing School  for  Nurses,  took  the  course,  then 
spent  a  winter  in  Massachusetts  as  interne  in 
the  Woman's  Reformatory,  and  last,  to  remedy 
defects  she  felt  in  her  knowledge  of  the  Bible, 
entered  the  Moody  Bible  Institute  in  Chicago. 

Thus  splendidly  trained,  she  offered  herself  to  Becomes  a 
the  Presbyterian  Board  ;  was  accepted  in  1893,  missionary. 


198    WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

and  sent  the  following  August  to  a  station  in 
China,  near  the  border  of  Hu-nan.  The  shy» 
sensitive,  proud,  and  rathe:-  difficult  girl  had 
matured  into  the  broad-hearted  woman,  with  a 
heart  full  of  tenderness  and  sympath3%  partic- 
ularly for  the  unhappy  and  the  unlovable. 

She  was  a  little  later  transferred  to  Lien-chou, 
where  there  was  a  hospital.  Here  she  worked 
in  loneliness  but  with  unfailing  courage.  The 
story  's  ti)Ul  of  her  having  to  perform  opera- 
tions in  lier  bath-room  (before  the  little  hospital 
was  built),  wliere,  without  any  skilled  helper, 
she  amputated  a  leg  most  successfully. 

She  escaped  injury  during  the  Boxer  trouble. 
Writing  to  a  friend,  she  said,  "  I  don't  think  w© 
are  in  any  danger,  and  if  we  are,  we  might  as 
well  die  suddenly  in  God's  work  as  by  some- 
long-drawn-out  illness  at  home."  In  1902  sh© 
returned  liome  on  furlough.  Her  time  was 
employed  in  graduate  studN^  missionary  ad- 
dresses, and  the  raising  of  a  thousand  dollars 
for  a  chapel  in  Lien-chou. 

She  returned  the  next  year  to  her  dear  Lien- 
chou,  but  only  to  take  another  and  more  mys- 
terious journey.  Trouble  rose  at  the  mission 
over  some  misunderstanding  during  a  religious 
festival.  The  mob  seized  the  mission  and 
drove  out  and  murdered  the  missionaries.  Two 
of  them  were  a  young  husband  and  his  wife 
who  had  reached  their  new  station  only  the  day 
before. 


THE    WOMEN  BEHIND    THE    WORK      199 

When  the  mob  brought  Dr.  Chesnut  down 
to  the  temple  steps  to  the  foot  of  a  large  tree, 
and  she  sat  down  upon  a  mound  at  the  side, 
waiting  her  death,  a  little  boy  in  the  crowd 
had  an  ugly  gash  in  his  head  which  she  noticed. 
She  called  him  to  her,  tore  off  the  hem  of  her 
dress,  and  bound  up  his  wound  with  skilled, 
kind  fingers  that  did  not  tremble.  Then  they 
struck  her  and  threw  her  iiito  the  river,  where 
she  lay  as  if  asleep.  After  stabbing  the  poor 
body,  they  brought  it  ashore. 

Thus  one  of  the  choice  spirits  of  American 
womanhood  laid  down  her  life  for  the  redemp- 
tion of  China.  As  God  lives,  her  sacrifice  shall 
not  be  in  vain.  Other  college  girls  will  feel  their 
eyes  wet  and  their  hearts  hot  as  they  read  her 
story.  Out  of  her  life  laid  down  shall  spring 
many  lives  consecrated  to  hard  service  in  un- 
lovely places.  The  whole  world  will  perceive 
that  a  box  of  ointment,  very  precious,  has  once 
more  been  poured  over  the  feet  of  the  Saviour 
and  filled  all  the  room  with  its  perfume. 

QUESTIONS 

1.  Can  you  name  ten  famous  missionary  physicians 
and  school-teachers? 

2.  If  you  went  to  India,  what  women  physicians 
would  you  wish  to  meet?  to  Persia?  to  Turkey?  to 
Siam?  to  China?  to  Korea? 

3.  ^lake  out  an  itinerary  of  a  journey  to  visit  the 
great  girls'  schools  of  the  Orient.  Tell  why  you  want 
to  see  each  one. 


200     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

4.  If  you  were  to  establish  a  training-school  for 
Bible  women,  where  would  you  put  it?     Why? 

5.  Which  seems  to  you  more  important,  the  kinder- 
garten or  the  high  school  as  a  missionary  agency? 

6.  What  reasons  have  led  to  the  comparative  neglect 
of  the  kindergarten  as  a  missionary  agency  ? 

7.  What  will  hapjien  to  the  denomination  that  em- 
pha'iizes  primary  schools  to  the  neglect  of  schools  of 
higher  learning? 

8.  What  is  the  average  annual  expense  of  support- 
ing a  village  scliool  with  native  teachers  in  China?  in 
India?  in  Korea  ? 

9.  How  could  you  invest  two  hundred  dollars  in 
China  to  the  best  advantage?  in  India?  in  Japan?  in 
Africa? 

10.  If  you  had  twenty-five  dollars  to  invest  in  a  mis- 
sion specific,  what  would  be  some  of  your  most  attractive 
options  ? 

11.  Where  are  orphanages  particularly  needed  and 
particularly  effective  ? 

12.  What  is  one  of  the  chief  values  of  missions  to  the 
lepers? 

13.  How  should  you  justify  philanthropic  missions  to 
defective  or  dependent  classes,  in  view  of  the  pressing 
needs  in  other  directions?  Have  they  a  peculiar  value 
and  beauty  in  heathen  countries? 

BIBLE   READING 
Matthew  xiii.  33. 

(1)  The  Hidden  Leaven. 

(2)  The  Breath  of  the  Lord  in  the  Valley  of  Dry 
Bones. 

(1)  Develop  the  hidden  working  of  the  leaven  in  the 
meal,  —  particle  by  particle  the  whole  is  reached  and  trans- 


THE    WOMEN  BEHIND    THE    WORK 


201 


formed.  Show  the  silent  working  of  the  leaven  of  Gospel 
ideals  of  womanhood,  of  life,  duty,  immortality,  God,  in 
transforming  heathen  society. 

(2)  Picture  the  valley  with  countless  bones  of  the 
slain,  — desolate,  hopeless;  the  summoning  of  the  spirit 
of  God  to  breathe  upon  these  slain ;  then  the  coming 
from  the  four  winds,  and  the  rising  of  a  mighty  army. 
Even  so  the  power  of  Christ  is  re-creating  the  dead  wastes 
of  human  society,  making  out  of  it  the  army  of  the  living 
God. 


CHAPTER  V 

The  Product  of  Missionary  Work 

1.  Shown    in    the    Changing    Conditions    of 

Women's   Life   in  the  Orient. 

2.  Manifest  in  the   Character  and  Achieve- 

ments  OF  the   Christian   Women   of   the 
Orient. 


CHAPTER   V 

THE   NEW   WOMAN    OF   THE   ORIENT 
Part   I 

In  Auburn,  N.Y.,  there  is  still  living  an  old  The  lion's 
colored  woman,  once  a  slave,  on  whose  head  ^''^'^' 
a  price  of  $40,000  was  once  put,  because  of  her 
wonderful  skill  in  helping  fugitive  slaves  to 
escape  into  Canada.  With  autocratic  authority, 
absolute  fearlessness,  and  a  genius  for  avoiding 
detection,  she  would  pilot  poor  trembling  fugi- 
tives by  the  circuitous  lines  of  the  underground 
railway  to  freedom. 

Sometimes,  even  when  safely  across  the  bor- 
der into  Canada,  the  terrified  slaves  still  cow- 
ered and  trembled,  afraid  to  stand  forth  in  the 
light  of  day.  Then  Harriet  Tubman's  voice 
and  attitude  were  those  of  some  ancient  prophet, 
as  she  sternly  admonished  the  captive  :  "  What 
ye  cowin'  down  dar  fur?  Git  up!  —  don't  ye 
know  yer  free  !  Ye've  shaked  off  de  lion's  paw ! 
Stand  up  dar  like  a  man  !  "  Some  such  great 
voice  has  sounded  in  the  hearts  of  the  women  of 
the  world ;  for  everywhere  under  the  sun  there 
are  evidences  that  age-long  habits  of  subservi- 
ency are  loosening,  that  women  are  shaking  off 
205 


tiie  move- 
meut 


206    WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

the  lion's  paw  of  cruel  custom  and  are  daring 
to  stand  on  their  feet,  ""an  exceeding  great 
array." 

Online.  In  tliis  chapter  we  shall  briefly  review  some 

of  the  signs  which  point  to  this  worldwide 
woman's  movement,  and  shall  then  sketch  the 
careers  of  a  few  of  the  more  notable  new  women 
of  the  Orient. 

Meaning  of  The  solidarity  of  the  world  is  strikingly- 
shown  by  the  fact  that  this  reaching  out  ct 
women  for  fuller  freedom  and  j aster  opportuni- 
ties is  confined  to  no  race  nor  country.  With 
the  evidences  of  the  moveinent  in  Europe  and 
America  we  cannot  deal,  but  we  believe  that 
this  and  the  movement  in  the  Orient  have  a 
common  source.  They  spring  from  the  gradual 
penetration  into  the  common  consciousness  of 
certain  principles  which  Christ  enunciated  and 
of  which  the  New  Testament  is  full.  These 
principles  are  (1)  the  supreme  worth  of  the  in- 
dividual, (2)  his  direct  responsibility  to  God» 
(3)  the  obligation  of  unselfish  service  laid  on 
all  irrespective  of  sex,  (4)  human  brotherhood^ 
(5)  divine  fatherhood. 

The  Gospel  is  the  most  tremendous  engine 
of  democracy  ever  forged.  It  is  destined  to 
break  in  pieces  all  castes,  privileges,  and  oppres- 
sions. Perhaps  the  last  caste  to  be  destroyed 
will  be  that  of  sex.  It  is  not  surprising  that, 
while  the  main  problem  of  democracy  is  still 
undemonstrated,  the  corollary  of  women's  rights 


THE   NEW    WOMAN  OF   THE   ORIENT    207 

should  remain  to  be  grappled  with.  The  sur- 
prising thing  is  that,  not  only  in  countries 
where  there  is  most  light  and  freedom  is  the 
impulse  felt,  but  also  in  the  most  backward  and 
despotic,  so  far  as  women  are  concerned.  This 
can  be  accounted  for  only  on  the  ground  that 
there  is  a  wider  adumbration  of  the  spirit  of 
Christ  than  we  dream.  He  being  lifted  up, 
even  as  He  said,  is  drawing  the  whole  world 
unto  His  own  perfect  charity,  justice,  friendliness, 
democracy,  to  that  redeemed  humanity  in  which 
there  shall  be  neither  male  nor  female,  bond 
nor  free,  but  only  free  men  and  free  women, 
whose  lives,  like  His,  are  given  them  not  to  be 
ministered  unto,  but  to  minister. 

Taking  our  missionary  aeroplane,  let  us  fly  Turkish 
swiftly  over  the  lands  to  see  in  very  truth 
whether  there  be  signs  of  promise  that  the  long 
night  of  ignorance  and  helplessness  in  which 
women  have  lain  is  breaking.  Let  us  look  first 
at  the  Turkish  Empire.  For  centuries  Turkish 
women  have  been  slaves  whose  happiness  de- 
pended upon  their  ability  to  please  a  master 
who  could  divorce  them  at  any  moment.  To 
keep  women  in  this  condition  strict  laws  were 
made  to  prevent  progress,  and  to  forbid  them 
to  attend  foreign  schools.  Then  the  wealthy 
women  had  governesses  who  taught  them  Euro- 
pean languages  and  music.  Laws  were  passed 
which  forbade  the  governesses.  A  reflection 
of  the  ferment  which  has  been  going  on  in  these 


women. 


208    WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 


Part  in 
revolution. 


New  activi- 
ties. 


barred  homes  of  the  Turks  is  seen  in  Pierre  Loti's 
"  Disenchanted."  For  years  these  women  strug- 
gled on  ;  reading,  writing,  talking  with  each 
other.  They  silently,  but  mightily,  helped  on 
the  coming  revolution.  On  good  authority  it  is 
stated  that  there  were  Turkish  ladies  of  the 
highest  social  position,  who,  in  order  to  influence 
army  officers  in  the  cause  of  liberty,  used  to  re- 
ceive them  in  the  harem.  They  knew  that  the 
Sultan  would  wink  at  this  apparent  immorality; 
while  any  attempt  at  open  promulgation  of  lib- 
eral ideas  would  be  fatal.  So  these  patriotic 
women  sacrificed  their  reputation  on  the  altar 
of  country. 

When  the  constitution  was  promulgated,  the 
tremendous  strides  which  Turkish  women  had 
been  making  behind  the  barred  windows  of 
the  harem  were  evident.  The  day  that  the  con- 
stitution was  proclaimed,  women  everywhere 
threw  off  their  veils,  and  appeared  on  the  streets. 
One  woman  actually  had  her  picture  published 
in  the  Paris  papers.  When  the  women  saw 
that  this  action  of  theirs  was  likely  to  cause  a 
reaction  against  the  constitution  on  the  part  of 
the  more  conservative  men,  they  resumed  the 
veil.  Like  true  patriots  they  said,  "Never 
mind  the  veils  ;  we  will  wear  them,  and  with 
them  make  use  of  the  larger  opportunities  which 
the  constitution  affords." 

With  the  new  political  order,  a  new  world 
has  been  opened  to  women.     The   freedom  of 


THE  NEW   WOMAN  OF   THE   ORIENT    209 

the  press   has   given   them  the  opportunity  to 
write.     There  are  three  magazines  for  women 
already  published  by  women  in  Constantinople. 
Women's  clubs  are  springing  up  ;  and  the  de- 
mand is  made  for  girls'  schools.     One  of  the 
leading   surgeons   of    Constantinople   has    con- 
sented to  take  women  into  his  hospital  to  pre- 
pare them  to  be  physicians  and  nurses.     Perhaps 
the  most  radical  request,  according  to  Moslem 
ideas,  is   the    petition   that   an  art  school   for 
women  be  opened.     This  Hamid  Bey  has  agreed 

*%t°i*s  a  Christian  school  that  has  trained  the  A^n^otable 
present  leader  of  the  women.  Hahdeh  Salih  is 
a  graduate  of  the  American  College  for  Girls^  in 
Constantinople.  In  a  recent  article  in  the  Na- 
tional aeogmphic  Magazine  from  which  most 
of  the  facts  here  given  have  been  taken,  Mary 
Mills  Patrick,  the  president  of  the  college, 
speaks  of  her  as  follows  : 

"Halideh  Salih  has  been  called  once  and  again  the 
first  woman  in  popularity  and  influence  in  the  Turkish 
Empire.  Her  father  was  secretary  in  the  Department 
of  the  Treasury  in  the  palace  of  the  Sultan  ;  and  no  small 
sacrifice  was  required  to  enable  his  daughter  to  obtain  the 
de-ree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts  in  a  foreign  college,  bhe  is 
the  only  Mohammedan  woman  in  the  Turkish  Empire 
^ho  holds  this  degree.  ...  She  is  writing  for  all  the 
papers  in  Constantinople  with  much  success  and  vigor; 
she  is  a  president  of  one  of  the  new  women's  clubs,  and  a 
member  of  all;  she  is  a  member  of  two  men's  clubs,  of 
the  lea-ue  of  pul)lic  safety,  and  a  press  club;  and  she 
ha.  been  asked  by  the  Departn>ent  of  Public  Instruction 


210   WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

to  outline  the  course  of  study  necessary  for  the  reorgani- 
zation of  schools  for  girls  throughout  the  Empire.  .  .  . 
She  has  also  prepared  a  translation  of  "Julius  Cajsar,"  a 
play  that  the  censorship  excluded  in  the  past,  but  which 
will  probably  be  the  first  to  be  given  in  the  new  Turkish 
theatre.  She  is  also  writing  for  foreign  papers,  and  the 
first  money  she  earned  in  this  way  was  used  toward 
founding  a  scholarship  for  Turkish  girls  in  her  Alma 
Mater." 

Nor  is  it  alone  in  the  Turkish  Empire  that 
Moslem  women  are  feeling  the  new  spirit.  In 
Moslem  Russia  two  or  three  years  ago,  the 
women  addressed  a  petition  to  the  Czar,  asking 
to  be  relieved  from  the  intolerable  tyranny  of 
their  husbands. 
An  African  There  seems  to  be  some  subtle  connection 
between  Christianity  and  clubs;  for  no  sooner 
do  women  come  under  the  influence  of  the  mis- 
sionaries than  they  long  to  form  a  club  of  tlieir 
own.  Perhaps  the  most  amusing  instance 
of  this  "revolt  of  mother"  is  found  in  Portu- 
guese West  Africa. 

There  for  several  years  there  has  been  held 
an  annual  congress  of  mothers,  attended  by 
several  hundred  women.  Some  of  them  walk 
more  than  a  hundred  miles  to  attend  it.  They 
have  Bible  study,  talks  on  home  hygiene,  on 
the  best  ways  to  bring  up  babies,  and  on  all  the 
dear,  homel}^  topics  that  women  discuss  when 
they  get  together.  It  is  a  most  surprising 
thing  that  the  husbands  of  these  women  per- 
mit them  to  leave  their  homes  for  such  a  purpose. 


woman  s 
club. 


THE   NEW   WOMAN  OF   THE    ORIENT    211 

Si^ns  of  progress  among  Indian  women  be-   The  women 

1  ^J.•    ^     •  of  India. 

gan  some  3'ears  ago,  and  are  multiplying  very 
rapidly  of  late.  The  first  battle  was  a  legal 
one,  to  clear  away  space  enough  in  the  tangled 
jungle  of  oppression  for  the  women  to  stand 
on  while  they  fought  for  better  conditions.  In 
this  hard-fought  fight  missionary  women  were 
the  leaders,  and  the  arousers  of  a  public  sense 
of  shame.  It  was  only  after  determined  agita- 
tion that  the  non-caste  women  of  southern  India 
were  allowed  to  wear  any  garment  above  their 
waist.  The  bill  legalizing  the  remarriage  of 
widows  was  even  more  strenuously  resisted ; 
and  the  bills  attacking  the  hideous  evils  of  mar- 
riages consummated  between  adult  men  and 
little  cliildren  were  only  passed  because  of  the 
irrefutable  testimony  of  medical  women  mis- 
sionaries. But  now  a  new  spirit  is  in  the  air. 
Native  opinion  is  backing  the  reforms.  The 
number  of  remarriages  of  child  widows  is  slowly 
increasing.  Recently  in  Calcutta,  Babu  Bro- 
jindranath  Kanjilal  married  the  widowed  daugh- 
ter of  Honorable  Justice  Ashutosh  Mukerji, 
while  societ}^  rocked  with  excitement.  The 
bride  was  fifteen  years  old,  and  had  been  a 
widow  for  five  years.  Both  belonged  to  Hindu 
families  of  the  highest  caste.  Recent  legisla- 
tion has  made  it  a  crime  to  disfigure  a  widow 
of  sixteen  years  or  under  by  shaving  her  head, 
whether  this  is  done  with  or  Avithout  her  con- 
sent. 


212   WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 


In  the 
courts. 


Hospital  for 
women. 


Library- 


Papers. 


Indian  girls  are  showing  a  new  spirit,  too. 
Ilukhmabai,  a  young  woman  of  high  caste,  suc- 
cessfully resisted  through  the  English  courts 
the  attempt  of  her  family  to  force  her  to  a  mar- 
riage abhorrent  to  her,  the  contract  for  which 
had  been  made  in  her  infancy.  She  was  de- 
feated in  the  lower  courts,  and  for  a  time  it 
looked  as  though  this  educated  girl  might  be 
forced  to  submit  to  a  fate  worse  than  death ; 
but  the  higher  courts  sustained  the  revolution- 
ary doctrine  of  her  right  to  her  own  person. 

Another  indication  of  the  dawning  respect  for 
womanhood  in  India  is  found  in  a  hospital  for 
women  and  children,  open  to  all  classes  and 
creeds,  recently  given  by  a  native  Christian 
gentleman,  Dewan  Bahadur  N.  Subrananyam. 
The  hospital  is  a  memorial  to  the  donor's 
mother.  The  same  gentleman  gave  as  a  tribute 
to  his  wife  a  scholarship  to  enable  Christian 
young  women  to  qualify  themselves  as  physi- 
cians. 

In  the  city  of  Mysore  is  a  library  and  reading 
room  which  is  closed  every  day  from  three  to 
five  to  men,  and  open  to  women.  Here  a  social 
gathering  is  held  every  Saturday  afternoon, 
when  papers  are  read  by  Indian  ladies  on  social 
and  religious  questions. 

In  the  recent  national  congress  over  one  hun- 
dred Hindu  ladies  were  in  attendance,  and  sev- 
eral read  papers  before  a  large  audience  of  men  : 
"The  first  time  that  a  caste  woman  in  Madras 


THE  NEW  WOMAN  OF   THE    ORIENT    213 

has  ever  spoken  in  public."  In  reporting  the 
meeting  The  Madras  Statesman  said  that  the 
faces  of  the  men  were  an  interesting  study ;  as 
they  seemed  to  be  amused  and  pleased  that 
their  womenfolk  could  speak  so  well.  The 
papers  read  were  on  "  Marriage  Expenses," 
"  Raising  the  Marriageable  Age  of  Girls," 
"Should  English  be  taught  Our  Girls?"  etc. 

The  educated  woman  in  India  is  still  a  very  Education, 
rare  bird.  The  Indian  Social  Reformer  states 
that  in  1897  only  six  out  of  every  thousand 
women  are  not  illiterate.  The  census  shows 
that  of  girls  from  five  to  fifteen  years  of  age 
only  ninety-three  out  of  ten  thousand  are  under 
instruction.  Since  the  Christian  communities  are 
the  only  ones  where  there  is  anything  approach- 
ing a  general  appreciation  of  education  for  girls, 
it  comes  about  quite  naturally  that  the  greater 
number  of  the  new  women  of  India  are  Chris- 
tian. The  Parsis,  it  is  true,  quite  generally 
educate  their  girls,  and  a  very  small  number  of 
the  high-caste  people  who  belong  to  the  reform 
element.  But  these  two  groups  are  so  small 
absolutely  and  relatively  that  their  numbers  do 
not  seriously  affect  the  whole.  Said  The  Hindu, 
a  prominent  non-Christian  paper,  recently, 
"  While  the  educated  Indian  has  not  yet  got 
beyond  the  talking  stage  in  the  matter  of  fe- 
male instruction,  the  Christian  missionary  has 
honeycombed  the  country  with  girls'  schools." 

It  is  striking  to  note  that  the  first  native  lady 


214   WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

Noted  Chris-  to  take  the  degree  of  M.  A.  in  Bengal,  Mrs.  C.  M. 
lau  women,   g^gg^  ^j^g  ^j,g^.  la^yyer  graduated  at  Oxford  and 

admitted  to  practise  as  a  barrister,  Miss  Cornelia 
Sorabji,  the  first  Bachelor  of  Science  at  Bombay- 
University,  Miss  Alice  Sorabji,  the  first  poet  to 
attract  European  attention.  Miss  Toru  Dutt, 
the  first  novelist  to  attain  distinction,  Mrs. 
Satthianadhan  (who  was  also  the  first  Brah- 
man woman  to  study  medicine),  the  first  great 
social  reformer,  Ramabai,  the  first  editor  of  a 
woman's  magazine,  the  present  Mrs.  Satthian- 
adhan, the  first  woman  to  take  an  M.A.  in  two 
subjects  at  Calcutta  University,  Mrs.  Nirmala- 
bala  Shome,  were  all  Christian  women.  This 
list  could  be  easily  made  very  much  longer. 
These  educated  Christian  women  are  already 
becoming  a  power  in  the  elevation  of  the  women 
of  India.  They  have  established  Young  Wom- 
en's Christian  Associations,  a  social  settlement 
for  university  women  at  Bombay,  "  The  Asso- 
ciation of  the  Daughters  of  India,"  supported 
by  women  in  North  India,  "  The  Union  for 
West  India,"  a  lectureship  at  Madras,  besides 
numerous  other  organizations. 
New  home  Customs  in  the  homes  of  India  are  changing. 

Formerly  no  man  ate  with  a  woman.  The  hus- 
band always  ate  first  and  alone,  while  his  wife 
stood  and  served  him.  No  matter  how  high  her 
rank,  the  husband  was  her  lord,  in  whose  pres- 
ence the  Indian  woman  might  not  sit.  In  early 
days  a  difficulty  was  found  in  administering  the 


life 


THE  NEW    WOMAN  OF   THE   ORIENT     215 

Communion,  because  men  could  not  touch  the 
cup  and  eat  the  bread  after  it  had  been  passed 
around  among  women.  The  missionaries  refused 
to  yield  the  point,  and  to-day  no  difficulty  is 
found.  Further,  in  many  educated  Indian  homes 
the  custom  of  family  meals  is  already  beginning. 

In  no  country  is  the  new  woman  more  in  evi-  The  womem 
dence  than  in  China.  One  of  the  most  unex-  o^  China, 
pected  results  of  the  Boxer  outbreak  was  the 
rising  of  Chinese  women  to  demand  greater  lib- 
erty and  wider  opportunities.  It  was  at  the  im- 
portunity of  missionaries  that  the  matter  of  foot- 
binding  was  first  brought  before  the  throne, 
and  the  edict  against  it  secured.  It  had  always 
been  defended  as  a  necessity  to  keep  the  women 
from  too  much  gadding.  For  years  not  the 
slightest  impression  seemed  to  be  made  ;  but  to- 
day ladies  of  the  highest  rank  are  setting  the 
example  of  unbinding  their  own  feet,  and  are 
supporting  the  anti-foot-binding  society. 

Still  more  remarkable,  fathers,  brothers,  and 
husbands  are  saying  :  "  Take  the  bandages  from 
the  feet  of  our  women,  and  the  veils  from  the 
eyes  of  their  understanding;  let  them  be  our 
companions;  let  them  be  fitted  to  carry  out  their 
duties  as  wives  and  mothers." 

Dr.  AV.  A.  P.  Martin  relates  that  he  once  saw  Pray  to  be 
in  a  Buddhist  temple  in  China  at  a  festival  time 
two  or  three  thousand  women  saying  prayers  to 
Buddha.    When  he  asked  what  they  were  pray- 
ing for,  he  was  told  that  they  prayed  they  might 


men. 


21G   WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

be  born  into  the  world  as  men  in  their  next  trans- 
migration, so  inferior  were  they  taught  to  be- 
lieve themselves,  and  so  hopeless  their  condition. 
It  would  not  be  so  easy  now  to  find  young  Chi- 
nese women  engaged  in  the  same  edifying  occu- 
pation, as  witness  tlie  following. 
Girls'  club.  In  Peking  a  young  woman's  club  has  been 
formed  which  boldly  proclaims  itself  as  "girls 
who  follow  their  own  will."  In  a  Gazette  for 
Young  Women  and  Girls,  the  following  revolu- 
tionary ideas  are  published: 

"  Oh,  ye  200,000,000  of  Chinese,  our  sisters,  listen  1  In 
China  it  is  said  that  man  is  superior  and  woman  inferior; 
that  man  is  noble  and  woman  vile ;  that  man  should  com- 
mand and  woman  obey  .  .  .  but  we  are  not  under  the 
domination  of  man.  The  nature  of  man  and  woman  is 
the  universal  sense  of  heaven.  How,  then,  can  one  make 
distinctions,  and  say  that  the  nature  of  man  is  of  one  sort 
and  that  of  woman  another?  .  .  .  The  woman  whore- 
mains  in  ignorance  wrongs  not  only  herself  but  also  her 
family  and  her  country." 

Medicine.  Chinese    women    are    pressing  into    medical 

study.  Seven  of  them  graduated  recently  from 
the  medical  college  of  the  Presbyterian  Board 
at  Canton.  The  Taotai,  or  governor  of  the 
city,  was  present  and  delivered  an  address  in 
which  he  said,  "  ^lay  you  female  students  all 
pluck  up  your  courage." 

The  first  Chinese  woman  student  of  medicine 
in  the  United  States  was  You  Me  K3'ing,  daugh- 
ter of  a  Chinese  pastor.  Dr.  Hii  King  Eng,  Dr. 
Marguerite  Wong,  Dr.  Mary  Stone,  and  Dr.  Ida 


THE  NEW    WOMAN  OF   THE    ORIENT    217 

Kahn  are  other  Christian  Chinese  women  trained 
in  this  country. 

The  graduates  of  the  mission  colleges  are  in  Teachers, 
great  demand  for  teachers  in  the  new  schools  of 
Western  learning  for  women,  which  the  vice- 
roys have  been  commanded  to  open  in  every  prov- 
ince. Very  large  salaries,  according  to  Chinese 
notions,  are  paid  to  these  young  women.  Miss 
Emily  Hsu,  niece  of  the  famous  woman  physician, 
Hii  King  Eng,  was  employed  recently  in  two  gov- 
ernment schools,  teaching  two  hours  daily  in  each. 
For  this  she  received  -^l-iO  a  month.  When  one 
considers  that  this  is  the  salary  of  a  Chinese  pastor 
for  a  year,  and  that  government  clerks  of  fine 
education  receive  8  20  a  month,  one  sees  the  de- 
mand for  women  trained  in  AVestern  learning, 
and  the  premium  put  upon  their  services.  No 
wonder  the  daughters  of  the  highest  classes  are 
begging  to  be  admitted  to  mission  schools,  where 
formerly  the  daughters  of  coolies  had  to  be  hired 
to  come. 

A  change  in  the  estimation  of  the  body  is  com-  Physical 
ing  over  Chinese  women  as  well  as  over  women  '^^  ^^^' 
students  throughout  the  Orient.  Formerly  teach- 
ers in  mission  schools  had  to  force  girls  to  play, 
to  exercise.  They  were  sulky  and  mortified,  it 
seemed  so  undignified  and  unwomanly  to  use  the 
body  freely.  Now  beautiful  calisthenic  exercises, 
dancing,  gymnastics,  are  not  only  taught  in  the 
missions,  but  required  in  the  government  schools. 

The  position  of  women  in  Christian  households  Home  life. 


218   WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

is,  in  fact,  so  much  improved  that  heathen  families 
often  try  to  obtain  Christian  husbands  for  their 
daughters.  These  Christian  homes  are  such 
object-lessons  that  when  they  are  seen  presided 
over  by  educated  women,  the  neighbors  say:  "We 
want  such  homes.  We  did  not  know  that  it  was 
possible  for  a  woman  to  become  an  equal  of  man. 
Neither  had  we  dreamed  of  the  possibility  of 
finding  pleasure  and  congenial  companionship  in 
association  with  women."  So  writes  Dr.  Osgood 
of  Chee  Cheo  in  the  Missionary  Review  of  the 
World  of  November,  1907.  He  further  sliows 
how  the  very  names  given  to  girls  are  changing 
in  that  city.  Instead  of  "  Want-a-boy,"  "Too- 
many-girls,"  "  Conie-a-boy,"  "  Little  trouble," 
they  now  use  such  names  as  "  Little  love," 
"  Little  joy,"  "  Little  precious." 
Siamese  In  Siam   an   equally  marked  change  in  the 

women.  status  of  women  is  observable.     For  years  after 

missions  were  established  in  that  country  it 
was  almost  impossible  to  get  parents  to  allow 
their  daughters  to  be  educated.  The  Siamese 
formerly  had  a  proverb  which  was  in  every 
man's  mouth,  "  Woman  is  a  buffalo;  only  man 
is  human."  Not  long  ago  at  the  commence- 
ment exercises  of  the  Harriet  M.  House  school 
the  Siamese  Minister  of  Education  made  the 
address.  In  course  of  this  he  said  :  "  Through 
the  influence  of  your  school  and  the  teaching 
of  the  American  missionary  women,  we  have 
thrown  that  old  proverb  away,  and  our  govern- 


clab. 


THE  NEW   WOMAN  OF   THE   ORIENT    219 

ment  is  founding  schools  for  the  education  of 
girls." 

The  graduates  of  this  noble  school  are  found 
throughout  the  country  in  private  and  govern- 
ment schools,  and  as  the  greater  part  of  them 
are  Christian,  they  exercise  a  wide  influence. 

In  connection  with  this  school  was  founded  Woman's 
the  first  woman's  club  in  Siam  three  years  ago. 
It  is  a  member  of  the  Federation  of  Women's 
Clubs  in  this  country.  The  president  of  the 
club  is  Princess  Chert  Chome,  an  earnest  Chris- 
tian. The  meetings  of  the  club  are  held  at  the 
home  of  the  princess,  a  house  in  the  old  palace 
grounds.  The  club  is  democratic,  but  numbers 
in  its  membersliip  women  of  rank  and  influence. 
The  aim  of  the  club  is  not  religious,  unless  one 
takes  the  broad  view  that  "  to  unite  its  members 
in  loyal  fellowship"  is  at  heart  deeply  religious. 
This  club  idea  is  even  more  startling  to  the 
women  of  Siam,  accustomed  only  to  the  narrow- 
est relationships,  than  it  is  to  our  own  women, 
and  it  surely  is  far  from  fully  acclimated  here 
at  home. 

Helpful  suggestions,  programs,  and  magazines 
have  been  exchanged  between  this  club  and 
some  of  the  clubs  in  America.  The  help  given 
has  been  much  appreciated.  A  beautiful  photo- 
graph of  the  club  has  been  made  by  the  Presby- 
terian Board,  and  the  address  could  doubtless 
be  obtained  at  the  rooms  by  any  who  were 
interested. 


220    WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 


A  uotable 
\  oiuan. 


Koreau 
women. 


Schools. 


One  of  the  pupils  in  the  Harriet  M.  House 
seliool  was  brought  to  this  country  by  the  mis- 
sionaries to  complete  her  education.  Since  her 
return  to  her  own  country,  she  has  become  very 
influential.  She  has  given  to  the  church  some 
of  its  sweetest  hymns  and  has  recently  made  a 
translation  of  the  life  of  Queen  Victoria.  This 
was  eagerly  read,  though  formerly  the  Siamese 
spoke  scornfully  of  England  as  a  "country 
ruled  by  a  woman." 

The  meek  little  Korean  woman,  she  of  the 
inner  apartment,  not  dignified  with  a  personal 
name,  never  educated,  jealously  secluded,  and 
callously  overworked,  is  coming  to  her  own  at 
last.  A  symbolic  event  took  place  a  year  ago 
in  the  First  jNIethodist  Church  at  Seoul  on  the 
occasion  of  a  wedding  in  high  life.  The  groom 
was  the  Minister  of  Education,  the  bride  the 
daughter  of  the  governor  of  Chemulpo.  For  the 
first  time  in  the  history  of  Korea  the  dividing 
curtain,  high  and  thick,  which  stretched  between 
the  seats  occupied  by  the  women  and  tliose  of  the 
men  was  down,  down  its  full  length.  A  prince 
who  was  present  sat  beside  his  wife,  chatting 
and  laughing. 

The  Koreans  are  so  eager  for  schools  for  their 
girls  that,  in  spite  of  their  deep  poverty,  they 
are  paying  to  have  these  opened  as  rapidly  as 
teachers  can  be  properly  trained.  Many  open- 
ings are  ready  where  no  teacher  can  be  found. 

Korean  women  are  already  beginning  to  study 


THE   NEW   WOMAN  OF   THE   ORIENT    221 

medicine  in  order  to  relieve  the  very  great  suf- 
ferings of  women  and  cliildren.  Esther  Pak,  the 
first  woman  physician,  will  be  spoken  of  later. 

The  sentimentalist,  particularly  of  the  male  The  new- 
persuasion,  declares  that  there  need  be  no  new  ^^"  ^n"  ^ 
women  in  Japan,  as  the  Japanese  woman  is  al- 
together charming  as  she  is.  If  these  advocates 
of  the  present  status  could  really  have  lived  the 
life  of  a  Japanese  woman,  their  opinion  might 
change.  Some  years  ago  a  book  was  published 
by  Harpers  called  "The  Japanese  Bride."  It 
was  written  by  a  Japanese  clergyman,  and  al- 
though his  facts  were  none  of  them  disputed,  so 
great  was  the  resentment  of  the  Japanese  at 
having  the  deep  and  prevailing  wrongs  against 
their  women  exposed,  that  Mr.  Tamura  was 
forced  to  resign  temporarily  from  his  charge. 
To-day,  with  clearer  ethical  vision,  and  even 
deeper  shame,  the  Japanese  recognize  and  are 
mending  the  evils,  and  are  listening  to  their 
own  reformers  when  they  tear  aside  the  veil 
which  conceals  the  greatest  weakness  in  Japan- 
ese life  and  character. 

Says  Dr.  Berry  of  Kyto,  "  As  a  result  of  the 
sociological  influence  of  Christianity,  great 
moral  reforms  in  the  family  have  already  re- 
sulted. In  fact,  the  ethical  side  of  Christianity 
has  impressed  the  nation  more  than  its  super- 
natural side.  Concubinage  has  been  disgraced 
and  forced  into  privacy  and  lessened ;  family 
life  has  been  ennobled  and  purified." 


222   WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 


A  Japanese 

Frances 

Willard. 


Honor 
shown 
women  f 


A  Japanese  Christian  woman,  Mrs.  Yajima, 
President  of  the  Japanese  National  Women's 
Christian  Temperance  Union,  presented  to  the 
Imperial  Diet  for  seven  successive  years  apetition 
asking  that  men  and  women  might  receive  the 
same  punishment  for  social  crime.  After  seven 
years  of  effort,  the  bill  was  actually  passed.  One 
of  the  large  daily  newspapers  in  northern  Japan 
said  :  "  Our  forty  millions  to-day  have  a  higher 
standard  of  morality  than  we  have  ever  known. 
There  is  not  a  boy  or  girl  throughout  the  empire 
who  has  not  heard  of  the  one-man,  one-woman 
doctrine.  Our  ideas  of  loyalty  and  obedience 
are  higher  than  ever  before.  And  when  we  in- 
quire the  cause  of  this  great  moral  advance,  we 
can  find  in  it  nothing  else  than  the  religion  of 
Jesus." 

When  the  emperor  promulgated  the  consti- 
tution in  1889,  his  wife  rode  by  his  side  in  an 
open  carriage,  something  contrary  to  precedent, 
and  giving  her  a  new  legal  status.  The  wife 
of  the  Mikado,  before  this,  had  held  no  position 
of  her  own,  but  was  entirely  the  creature  of 
liis  power.  While  the  Mikado  has  done  much 
to  elevate  the  position  of  women  by  his  courtesy 
and  respect  shown  the  empress,  it  gives  a  shock 
to  Western  ideas  to  learn  that  he  celebrated  the 
twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  his  marriage  to  the 
empress  by  adding  another  concubine  to  his 
harem.  It  is  expected  that  the  crown  prince 
will  set  a  better  example. 


THE   NEW    WOMAN  OF   THE    ORIENT    223 
According:  to  a  recent  number  of  the  Mission-  Egyptian 

TXT 

ary  Review  of  the  World  the  Moslem  women  of  °™*''* 
Egypt  are  feeling  the  new  impulse  of  liberty. 
Not  long  ago  they  held  a  monster  mass  meet- 
ing of  more  than  four  thousand  women  in 
the  Grand  Opera  House  in  Cairo.  Ladies  of 
the  highest  rank  were  present ;  among  them 
Princess  Aisha,  a  member  of  the  reigning  family 
of  the  Khedive,  who  made  a  speech.  Resolutions 
were  passed  demanding  freedom  from  the  harem, 
abolition  of  the  veil,  permission  to  be  in  the  so- 
ciety of  men,  and  the  right  to  be  courted.  A  per- 
manent organization  was  formed,  with  branches 
throughout  Egypt.  Some  of  the  men  are 
alarmed  because  European  ideas  are  "  invading 
the  sanctity  of  the  harem,"  and  the  priests  are 
writing  to  the  papers  to  prove  that  the  women's 
demands  are  contrary  to  the  law  of  the  Koran. 

In  this  rapid  survey  of  the  condition  of  women  Summing 
in  non- Christian  lands  we  have  touched  only  a  ^^' 
few  salient  points.  A  more  minute  study  would 
afford  even  greater  encouragement,  as  the  evi- 
dences of  a  world  movement  became  clearly 
evident.  Such  a  movement  is  at  once  an  op- 
portunity and  a  challenge.  What  the  women 
appropriate  in  the  opening  years  of  this  new 
freedom  will  be  wrought  into  the  texture  of 
national  life  for  a  century  to  come.  When  they 
ask  bread,  shall  we  give  them  a  stone  ?  In  their 
eagerness  for  fuller  life  and  liberty  and  learning, 
shall  we  allow  them  to  get  only  the  garments 
of  niviliz;\tion  and  not  its  heart? 


224    WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LAND& 

Tart   II 

Thumb-nail  Sketches  of  Oriental  Christians 

PANDITA   RAMABAI 

No  list  of  Christian  women  of  the  Orient 
would  be  complete  without  the  name  of  Rama- 
bai,  who  stands  to-day  as  one  of  the  profound 
personal  forces  of  the  world.  Her  story  is  too 
familiar  to  need  repetition.  It  is  suflicient  to 
recall  the  greatness  of  the  work  she  is  now  car- 
rying on  for  the  women  of  India.  At  Mukti 
she  has  a  village  community  of  seventeen  hun- 
dred famine  waifs,  child  widows,  and  rescued 
women.  These  diverse  elements  she  has  welded 
into  an  orderly  and  beautiful  community.  Half 
the  day  they  work,  and  half  the  day  they  study. 
Life  is  regulated  on  lines  of  the  utmost  simplicity. 
Clothing  is  made,  food  prepared,  cloth  woven, 
farm  work  and  gardening  done,  all  by  the  girls 
and  women.  But  it  is  not  the  schools,  the  farms, 
the  dairy,  the  printing-press,  weaving,  masonry, 
oil-making,  that  distinguish  Mukti;  it  is  the 
religious  faith  which  envelops  it  like  an  atmos- 
phere. 

Here  is  a  community  born  and  nurtured  by 
faith.  Ramabai  has  gathered  these  helpless 
waifs  hundreds  at  a  time,  acquired  the  land, 
dug  the  wells,  built  the  buildings,  in  absolute 
reliance  on  God's  bounty  to  supply  all  her  need. 
When    hunger    threatens    the    faith-sustained 


THE   NEW   WOMAN   OF   THE    ORIENT    225 

institution,  Ramabai  suffers  its  pinch  with  the 
otliers,  but  deliverance  always  comes. 

The  heart  of  the  community  is  the  great  brick 
church  where  oiie  may  see  seventeen  hundred 
women  and  girls  seat  themselves  in  orderly  rows 
on  the  bare  floor.  Here  Ramabai  teaches  them 
out  of  the  Scriptures,  and  here,  when  opportunity 
is  given,  all  unite  their  voices  and  their  hearts 
in  spoken  prayer,  like  the  voice  of  many  waters. 
Out  of  Mukti  go  praying  bands,  carrying  the 
gospel  of  God's  love  to  the  surrounding  villages. 
In  Mukti  the  voice  of  prayer  never  ceases. 
The  entire  school  is  divided  into  sections  so 
that  each  secures  at  least  two  hours  of  prayer 
daily.  All  night  the  ministry  of  intercession 
goes  on  by  those  who,  in  rotation,  take  upon 
themselves  this  service. 

While  wrapped  in  this  Eastern  atmosphere  of 
devotion,  Mukti  is  an  intensely  practical  place, 
with  a  firm  grasp  on  ethical  standards,  and  won- 
derful power  in  inspiring  to  holy  and  useful 
lives.  Ramabai  is  herself  making  a  translation 
of  the  Bible  into  the  simplest  woman's  talk,  a 
language  that  any  man  or  boy  would  scorn  to 
speak,  that  she  may  put  the  Gospel  within 
reach  of  the  stupidest  and  most  degraded  of 
India's  women. 

This  demonstration  of  the  living  power  of  God 
at  Mukti  is  stirring  thoughtful  men  through- 
out India,  making  them  realize  the  transforming 
love  of  Christ.     At  the  Sharada  Sadan  equally 


226   WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

wonderful,  but  less  spectacular,  work  is  done  by 
Ramabai,  in  her  school  for  high-caste  Hindu 
widows. 

In  this  school  she  is  giving  thorough  educa- 
tion to  these  more  gifted  girls  of  the  privileged 
castes  of  India,  which  will  fit  tjiara,  for  service  as 
teachers,  and  open  to  them  an' honorable  career 
instead  of  the  awful  emptiness  of  a  widow's 
life  in  India.  This  school  touches  the  influen- 
tial classes  in  Indian  society,  and  is  one  of  the 
influences  that  is  helping  to  undermine  the 
terrible  evil  of  enforced  widowhood. 

LILAVATI   SIXGH 

Only  less  remarkable  in  force  of  personality 
than  Ramabai  is  the  gracious  Indian  lady  who 
died  in  our  own  land  last  year.  Lilavati  Singh 
was  of  the  third  genei-ation  of  a  Christian  fam- 
ily. She  came  of  the  fighting  Rajputs,  inherit- 
ing strong  mind,  will,  and  heart.  She  lost  her 
mother  in  childhood,  and  was  sent  to  Isabella 
Thoburn's  school.  Here  her  ambition  for  a 
college  education  was  wakened  ;  and  after 
heroic  struggles  to  maintain  herself  by  teaching 
while  studying  for  her  degree,  she  secured  her 
Bachelor's  degree.  Later,  in  1892,  she  returned 
to  Lucknow  as  a  teacher  in  the  Isabella  Tho- 
burn  College,  sacrificing  a  salary  twice  as 
large  to  work  for  $25  monthly,  that  she  might 
be  in  distinctively  Christian  work.  It  was  no 
easy  place  for  the  girl  of  twenty-three  to  be  the 


THE  NEW   WOMAN  OF   THE   ORIENT    227 

only  Indian  teacher  on  the  faculty.  This  quiet 
Indian  woman  had  a  dignity  and  charm  of  per- 
sonality that  won  for  her  the  respect  of  the 
Eurasian  and  European  pupils  in  the  school, 
who  had  been  brought  up  to  despise  "a  native." 
While  still  teaching  she  won  her  A.M.  degree  in 
the  University  6f  Allahabad  for  advanced  work 
in  English  literature.  Through  all  her  brilliant 
work  as  a  teacher  there  ran  the  purpose  to  win 
her  pupils  to  a  living  faith  in  Christ. 

When  she  visited  America  in  1900,  she  made  Speaks  at 
an  eloquent  plea  for  the  higher  education  of  Ecumenical 
Indian  women  at  the  Ecumenical  Missionary 
Conference  in  New  York.  She  spoke  in  Car- 
negie Hall,  and  her  pure,  clear  voice  enunciating 
its  perfect  English  was  heard  to  the  topmost 
gallery.  So  profound  was  the  impression  that 
no  one  was  surprised  when  ex- President  Harri- 
son said  that  if  he  had  given  a  million  dollars 
to  evangelize  India,  and  this  wonderful  woman 
were  the  only  convert,  he  should  feel  that  his 
money  had  been  well  expended.  She  said  in 
part: 

"  It  has  been  said  that  because  the  Gospel  is  to  be 
preached,  therefore  energy  and  money  and  time  should 
not  be  expended  on  the  higher  education.  With  all  that 
you  have  done  for  us  in  the  past,  you  will  never  have 
enough  workers  for  us.  The  only  way  to  meet  the 
demands  of  the  field  is  to  train  us  to  do  the  work  that 
your  missionaries  have  done.  I  have  been  told  that 
when  the  oflScers  of  your  church  have  the  names  of  candi- 
dates presented  to  them,  one  of  the  first  questions  they 


228     WES  TER N  WOMEN  IN  EA  S  TERN  LA  NDS 

ask  is 'What  education  has  she  had?'  Xow,  I  cannot 
help  thinking  that  if,  witli  your  heredity  and  enviion- 
ment,  you  require  good  education  in  your  laborers',  how 
can  we  poor  heathen  do  efficient  work  without  the  same 
advantages?  I  have  been  with  missionaries  for  a  num- 
ber of  years,  and  I  have  seen  them  when  their  hearts 
have  been  breaking.  It  is  not  the  climate  tliat  breaks 
their  hearts ;  it  is  not  the  difference  of  food  and  tlie  strange 
surroundings,  but  what  is  breaking  the  hearts  of  a  gi'eat 
many  missionaries  has  been  the  failure  of  character  in 
their  converts.  From  my  own  experience  I  want  to  tell 
you  that  failure  of  character  comes  oftentimes  from 
ignorance;  because  we  do  not  know  any  better  we  dis- 
appoint your  missionaries.  If  you  want  us  to  be  what 
you  are,  and  to  be  what  Christ  intends  us  to  be,  give  us 
the  education  that  you  have  had,  and  in  time  and  with 
God's  help  and  grace  we  will  not  disappoint  you." 

She  returned  to  India  with  Miss  Thoburn, 
and  after  her  death  became  associate  president, 
then  president  elect  of  the  college,  bearing  the 
manifold  burdens  of  her  new  responsibilities 
with  a  winning  sweetness  and  humility  of 
spirit,  and  with  a  breadth  of  vision  and  easy 
mastery  of  details  that  proved  her  a  great 
woman. 
Speaks  in  Miss  Singh  was  sent  to  represent  the  Young 

"'■"P®-  Women's  Christian  Associations  of  India  at  the 
conference  of  college  students  of  the  Orient 
held  in  Tokio,  Japan,  in  1907.  She  probably 
made  a  profounder  impression  of  spirituality 
and  intellectual  power  than  any  other  woman 
of  the  conference.  She  was  made  chairman  of 
the  Woman's  Cooperating  Committee.     In  1908 


THE  NEW    WOMAN   OF   THE   ORIENT    229 

it  was  decided  that  slie  should  come  to  Amer- 
ica for  rest  and  graduate  study  for  two  years. 
On  her  way,  by  invitation  of  the  International 
Committee  of  the  Students'  Movement,  she 
stopped  in  England  and  the  Continent  to  at- 
tend conferences  of  student  volunteers.  She 
spoke  with  melting  and  persuasive  power  on 
the  claims  of  India  upon  British  students,  "not 
because  you  conquered  India  but  because  God 
gave  her  to  you."  When  she  reached  America 
Miss  Singh  had  planned  to  make  a  number  of 
missionary  addresses,  raise  money  for  a  new 
dormitory  in  Lucknow,  and  then  settle  down 
in  Cambridge  for  graduate  work  in  Radcliffe. 
But  this  plan  was  not  to  be  fully  carried  out. 
God  called  His  faithful,  gifted  worker  home, 
and  left  her  unfinished  task  for  other  hands. 
Out  of  such  lives  He  is  building  the  founda- 
tion of  saints  and  prophets  on  which  the  temple 
of  regenerated  India  shall  rise. 

MRS.  AHOK 
A  Chinese  Christian  Lady 

There  was  a  mandarin  in  Foochow  named 
Ahok  who  was  very  favorably  disposed  to 
Christianity  and  most  friendly  to  the  mission- 
aries, but  who  hesitated  for  thirty  years,  for 
business  reasons,  before  becoming  an  avowed 
Christian.  He  had  vast  business  interests;  his 
partners  were  unwilling  to  sacrifice  one-seventh 


230   WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 


Calling  on 
the  mis- 
sionaries. 


Conversion 
of  Mr.  Ahok. 


of  their  gains  by  giving  up  Sunday  work;  and 
Mr.  Ahok  felt  that  a  Christian  must  keep  the 
Sabbath. 

He  attempted  to  make  his  wife  and  mother 
favorable  to  Christianity  as  he  was;  but  these 
good  ladies  were  devoted  to  idol  worship,  and 
did  not  believe  that  Cliristians  were  really  sin- 
cere. "  They  talked  good,  but  did  not  live 
good,"  they  said.  They  decided  to  call  upon 
these  foreign  ladies  at  unexpected  times,  and  do  a 
little  investigating  on  their  own  account.  So 
there  was  great  excitement  in  the  missionary 
quarters,  when  the  servant  came  running  to  say 
that  the  tai-tai  (grand  ladies)  were  coming. 
Slave  girls  helped  them  out  of  their  sedan- 
chairs,  and  they  stayed  to  luncheon.  Later 
Mrs.  Ahok  announced  that  she  was  coming  to 
spend  the  vacation  with  the  missionary :  "  I 
want  to  come  to  see  if  you  live  as  you  talk." 

When  told  that  the  missionary  had  only  one 
bed  and  one  room,  she  said  she  would  bring  her 
own  bed  and  a  servant  to  wait  on  her.  Here 
she  stayed  ;  asked  to  read  translations  of  all 
letters  written  home  by  the  long-suffering  mis- 
sionary; listened  to  her  prayers;  and  watched 
her  with  terrible  Chinese  thoroughness  in  her 
down-sitting  and  her  up-rising,  and  beset  her 
behind  and  before. 

Soon  after  Mrs.  Ahok  returned  home,  her 
husband  became  an  out-and-out  Christian, 
closed  his    stores   on    Sunday,    and   opened   a 


THE  NEW    WOMAN  OF   THE   ORIENT    231 

prayer-meeting  for  his  employes.  In  family 
worship  he  prayed  with  great  earnestness  that 
his  mother  and  wife  might  be  led  to  give  up 
idol  worship.  "  O  God  Almighty,  for  Jesus' 
sake  look  down  upon  my  mother.  She  has  one 
hundred  idols,  and  her  heart  is  hard.  Make 
her  soft  to  worship  Thee,  for  she  is  nearly  eighty 
years  old." 

Not  long  after  this  Mrs.  Ahok  was  very  sad.  Answered 
because,  having  no  son,  she  could  not  rule  in  her 
own  house,  though  she  had  been  married  twelve 
years.  "  Would  not  your  God  give  a  son,"  she 
asked.  The  missionary  read  her  the  story  of 
Hannah ;  they  prayed  together,  Mrs.  Ahok  for 
the  first  time.  God  gave  her  a  son.  She  be- 
came a  Christian;  but  her  difficulty  was  to  con- 
fess openly  that  she  was  a  member  of  the 
despised  band  of  Christians.  She  thought  she 
would  rather  die.  This  also  she  prayed  about, 
and  Christ  took  away  her  fear,  and  filled  her 
heart  with  peace  and  joy.  She  delighted  to  go 
to  the  homes  of  her  wealthy  friends  and  tell 
them  of  her  new-found  Saviour. 

In  1890  Mr.  Ahok  was  burdened  with  a  de- 
sire to  visit  England  or  America  and  impress 
upon  Christian  people  the  need  of  more  mis- 
sionaries for  China.  As  he  could  not  go  away, 
he  urged  his  wife  to  go  with  a  missionary  re- 
turning on  furlough  to  England,  and  in  two 
days  the  brave  little  lady  made  up  her  mind  to 
go.     She  said,  "  I  cannot  think  why  more  Chris- 


232  WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 


Visits 
England. 


Life  of 
service. 


tians  do  not  come  to  China;  it  must  be  because 
they  do  not  know  how  our  women  are  dying." 

It  was  a  strange  and  moving  sight  in  Eng- 
land to  see  this  representative  of  Chinese  aris- 
tocracy pleading  the  cause  of  her  people.  She 
spoke  through  an  interpreter  one  hundred  times 
in  ninety  days,  creating  a  profound  impression 
wherever  she  was  heard.  When  she  first  had 
the  use  of  a  large  gas  tank  explained  to  her  she 
said:  "  England  is  like  this  gasometer,  a  big  res- 
ervoir of  (lospel  light.  Can  you  not  pipe 
that  also  to  distant  places  that  they  may  re- 
joice in  the  light  you  have  so  plentifully  in 
England  ?  " 

Her  dear  husband  died  during  her  absence. 
She  has  solaced  her  broken  heart  b}'  untiring 
personal  ministry  to  those  of  her  own  class,  so 
largely  shut  off  from  access  to  the  missionaries. 
One  of  her  beautiful  residences  she  lias  given 
to  establish  a  Christian  school  for  daughters  of 
the  mandarins.  These  would  die  before  they 
would  come  to  the  missionary  school  wliere  un- 
bound feet  are  compulso^3^  They  come  eagerly 
to  this  school,  pay  all  its  running  expenses,  and 
under  the  Christian  teaching  of  the  missionaries 
a  large  number  of  them  become  Christians. 

Her  husband's  greatest  benefaction  was  the 
founding  of  the  Anglo-Chinese  college  of  Foo- 
chow  by  a  gift  of  ten  thousand  dollars. 

The  life  of  this  little  Chinese  lady  is  a  con- 
tinual  benediction  and  inspiration. 


THE  NEW   WOMAN  OF   THE   ORIENT    233 

PHCEBE   ROWE 

PhcBbe  Rowe  was  an  Eurasian;  one  of  those 
half-bloods  who,  some  sociologists  assure  us,  are 
bound  to  inherit  the  bad  traits  of  both  races. 
I  wonder  why  it  is  that  we  never  seem  to  think 
that  the  cruel  circumstances  and  abnormal 
bringing  up  of  most  half-bloods  may  have  far 
more  to  do  with  undesirable  traits  than  inheri- 
tance. At  any  rate  there  are  Phoebe  Rowe  in 
India  and  Booker  T.  Washington  in  America, 
and  two  such  facts  are  worth  bushels  of  wise" 
articles  about  the  evils  of  race  intermixture. 

Phoebe  Rowe's  father  was  an  English  gentle- 
man, her  mother  an  Indian  woman.  She  was 
one  of  Miss  Thoburn's  girls  in  the  Lucknow 
school ;  a  fine  student,  an  ardent  Christian, 
with  the  soul  of  a  mystic  and  the  energy  of 
an  apostle.  In  1874  chiefly  through  her  agency 
all  the  boarders  in  the  school  became  Christian. 
As  she  went  among  the  people,  talking  simply 
to  them  from  temple  steps,  in  crowded  market- 
places, or  under  spreading  village  trees,  they 
listened  as  if  she  were  an  angel. 

For  weeks  at  a  time  she  itinerated  among  the  Evangel- 

1  •    1  •  izing. 

people,  sleeping  in  native  huts,  picking  up 
what  they  chose  to  give  her  to  eat.  Villages 
were  stirred  as  they  listened  to  the  new  doc- 
trine;  they  tore  down  the  idol  temples,  and 
all  asked  baptism  at  the  hands  of  the  native 
preacher  who  accompanied  her  and  her  Bible 
women  on  these  unique  evangelistic  trips. 


234    WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

Her  Toice.  Her  voice  was  wonderful  for  depth  and  sweet- 

ness. "  I  never  expect  to  hear  anything  like 
it  this  side  of  heaven,"  exclaimed  one.  "  The 
gates  of  heaven  were  ajar,  and  I  heard  the 
angels  singing,"  said  another.  She  would  often 
gather  the  people  together  by  singing  some 
beautiful  hymn;  and  then  when  they  were 
silent  speak  to  them  of  her  one  theme,  the  love 
of  Jesus.  One  of  the  most  beautiful  of  her 
hymns  has  been  widely  sung,  beginning: 

"  I  leave  it  all  with  Jesus, 
For  he  knows 
How  beside  me 
Safe  to  guide  me 
Through  my  foes ; 
Jesus  knows, 
Yes,  he  knows." 

HU  KING  ENG 

HiiKing  Dr.    Hii    King    Eng    belongs    to    the   third 

mo^ber.^^"  "  generation   of  Christians  in  a  Chinese  family 

notable  in  the  annals  of  Chinese  Christianity. 

An  interesting  incident  is  told  regarding  her 

grandmother.     It  seems  that  in  the  early  days 

it  was  customary  to  give  a  new  Christian  name 

at    baptism.     Many    of   the   brethren   thought 

this  entirely  unnecessary  in  the  case  of  a  woman. 

Then  up  rose  energetic,  fearless  Grandmother 

Hii  to  inform  the  brethren  that  of  course  the 

women  would  have  Christian  names.     All  un- 

'  conscious  of  the  profound  truth  enunciated,  she 

said,  "Woman   in  Christ  has   a  name;  if  you 


THE  NEW  WOMAN  OF  THE   ORIENT    235 

brethren  cannot  find  names  for  these  sisters, 
I  can  !  "  She  did.  This  woman  was  the  mother 
of  three  remarkable  preachers  and  the  grand- 
mother of  a  fourth. 

When  Hii  King  Eng  was  born,  her  parents 
gave  her  to  the  Lord,  and  promised  never  to 
bind  her  feet.  She  was  probably  the  first  girl, 
not  a  slave,  in  South  China  to  have  natural 
feet.  She  was  educated  in  the  Foochow  Girls' 
School,  and  later,  through  the  kindness  of 
friends,  sent  to  America  for  her  medical  train- 
ing. She  entered  the  Woman's  Medical  College 
of  Philadelphia  in  1888,  and  distinguished  her- 
self by  hard  work  and  good  standing. 

Midway  in  her  course  she  was  so  homesick  Training  in 
to  see  her  father  who  was  ill  that  she  took  the  '"'^"^• 
long  journej',  and  entered  once  more  into  the 
dear  familiar  life  of  home.  She  went  into 
the  missionary  hospital  clinics,  and  gained  much 
experience  that  was  of  value,  and  a  clear  knowl- 
edge of  what  special  preparation  she  needed 
most.  She  returned  to  Philadelphia,  graduated 
with  honor,  took  a  thorough  graduate  course 
as  assistant  surgeon  in  the  Philadelphia  Poly- 
clinic, and  in  1895  returned  to  her  home  as  a 
medical  missionary  of  the  Woman's  Foreign 
Missionary  Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church. 

Her  subsequent  career  has  been  one  of  great  Work  in 
success  and  abounding  influence.     She  is  a  very       '"^" 
skilful   surgeon   at   the  head  of  the  Woolston 


236   WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

Memorial  Hospital,  has  performed  thousands 
of  operations,  has  great  inlluence  among  the 
Chinese,  and  by  her  rare  gifts  and  beautiful 
spirit  of  ministry  and  Christian  consecration 
has  been  the  means  of  commending  the  religion 
whose  profession  she  adorns.  She  expresses 
the  purpose  of  her  life  in  these  words,  "  I  just 
'  look  up  '  and  '  lend  a  hand.' "' 
Conclusion.  To  these  sketches  we  could  add  that  of 
Esther  Pak,  Chundra  Lela,  Ida  Kahn,  Mary 
Stone,  Cornelia  Sorabji,  Mrs.  Satthianadlian, 
Bamba,  the  Maharanee,  and  a  dozen  others,  did 
space  permit. 

ILLUSTRATIVE  SELECTIONS 

The  New  Womax  in  China 

In  the  "  Girls'-Hall-of-Learning,"  on  the  hillside  out- 
side of  Hongkong,  silence  at  length  reigned  in  both 
dormitories.  In  the  far  dormitory  the  tiny  children  who 
shared  it  with  the  older  girls,  and  who  had  been  chatter- 
ing away  more  noisily  and  persistently  than  Java  sparrows, 
had  at  last  fallen  a.sleep. 

The  elder  girls  were  still  busily  conning  their  lessons  ; 
and  the  head-teacher,  whose  room  opened  out  of  the  near 
dormitory,  had  gone  to  rest  with  a  severe  headache.  Sud- 
denly the  silence  in  the  near  dormitory  was  broken  by 
the  voice  of  Fung-Hin  quietly  propounding  the  startling 
and  momentous  question,  "  What  do  you  think  would  he  the 
best  ivaij  to  reform  China  ?  " 

If  it  had  been  anytliing  ordinary  the  teacher  would 
have  called  out,  "  You  know  the  rule:  no  talking  after 
half-past  eight !  "  But  this  proposition  was  so  interesting 
that  she  had  not  llie  heart  to  stop  the  convei'sation. 


PUNDITA  RaMABAI  AND  Her  DAUGHTKR. 


THE   NEW   WOMAN  OF   THE   ORIENT    23T 

"  I  think,"  said  Ts'au  Kam,  the  oldest  girl  in  the  room, 
"  that  the  very  first  thing  should  be  to  destroy  all  the 
idols  and  ancestral  tablets  out  of  the  land." 

"  But,"  replied  Fung-Iiin,  "  I  do  not  see  that  the  destroy- 
ing of  the  idols  and  tablets  in  this  way  would  be  of  any 
lasting  use.  You  cannot  compel  people  to  become  Chris- 
tians, not  real  Christians  at  heart.  And  if  you  take  away 
their  idols  by  force,  they  will  only  put  up  fresh  idols  to- 
morrow. If  the  hearts  of  the  people  are  not  changed, 
they  will  be  nothing  bettered  in  that  way." 

"  I  think,"  interrupted  Sau-K'iu,  with  the  wisdom  of 
twelve  years,  "  I  think  that  the  first  thing  of  all  to  do  is 
to  get  rid  of  the  Empress  Dowager.  It  is  she  who  troubles 
the  people ;  she  should  not  be  allowed  to  trouble  them 
any  longer." 

"  It  seems  to  me,"  said  A-hi,  "  that  the  simplest  thing 
would  be  to  give  the  power  into  the  hands  of  the  Reform 
Party,  and  see  what  they  can  do  for  the  country." 

"The  next  important  thing,"  continued  Sau-K'iu, 
"  would  be  to  get  back  all  the  territory  we  have  lost ;  some 
to  Japan,  a  piece  to  Germany,  a  piece  to  France.  China 
is  certainly  the  most  foolish  of  all  the  kingdoms  !  and  to 
think  that  we  belong  to  this  most  foolish  of  kingdoms ! " 
She  sighed  tragically. 

"  I  am  afraid,"  said  Fung-Hin,  "that  we  cannot  hope 
to  get  back  the  territory  we  have  lost.  That  would  never 
be  allowed  by  the  great  kingdoms.  If  we  could  only  vote 
for  an  Emperor  as  the  Americans  elect  their  president." 

QUESTIONS 

1.  What  characteristics  mark  the  "  New  Woman  "? 

2.  Which  of  these  do  you  find  exemplified  in  these 
women  of  the  Orient  ? 

3.  Which  of  these  women  seems  to  you  most  remark- 
able intellectually?  spiritually?  which  most  attractive? 
most  courageous  ? 


238   WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

4.  In  which  countries  have  women  the  heaviest  handi- 
cap to  overcome? 

5.  In  which  country  have  women  made  the  most 
rapid  progress  during  the  last  ten  years? 

6.  What  are  the  advantages  and  what  the  dangers  of 
sending  girls  from  the  Orient  to  America  for  their  educa- 
tion ? 

7.  What  influences  in  modern  life  are  powerfully 
affecting  the  status  of  women  in  Oriental  lands  ? 

8.  In  which  country  is  the  native  woman  physician 
most  needed,  India  or  Ciiiua?     Wliy? 

9.  What  distinguishing  features  in  the  type  of  piety 
manifested  by  Ramabai's  widows  at  Mukti?  How  does 
this  differ  from  that  of  the  Chinese  Christians? 

10.  In  what  direction  may  we  expect  Indian  Christian 
womanhood  to  be  particularly  strong  ?  in  what  weak  ? 

11.  Can  you  see  an  enrichment  that  is  likely  to  be 
brought  to  our  conceptions  of  Christian  truth  by  these 
nations? 

12.  What  world-wide  organizations  are  already  bind- 
ing women  of  all  races  together  ? 

BIBLE    READING 

(1)  The  Sleeping  Maiden.     Luke  viii.,  41-42,  49-56. 

(2)  The  Selfish  Rich  Man.     Luke  xvi.,  19-22. 

(1)  The  one  only  daughter  locked  in  deathlike 
sleep  —  the  compelling  voice  of  Jesus,  "Maiden  rise" 
—  his  tenderness,  "Give  her  to  eat."  At  the  touch  of 
Christ  the  young  maidenhood  of  the  world  rises.  How 
we  satisfy  their  intellectual  and  spiritual  hunger  in  our 
mission  schools.     Jesus  the  friend  of  girlhood. 

(2)  Picture  the  Christian  nations  as  Dives  —  rich, 
self-satisfied,  luxurious,  the  non-Christian  asking  only 
for  the  crumbs  that  fall  from  the  table.  Moody  said 
he  was  not  anxious  about  what  God  would  do  with  the 


THE  NEW   WOMAN  OF   THE   ORIENT    239 

heathen,  but  what  He  would  do  with  those  who  withheld 
the  Gospel.  Contrast  the  privileges  of  Christian  women 
with  those  of  women  in  other  lands.  What  we  waste  on 
our  vanities  would  give  them  the  bread  of  education, 
health,  the  Gospel  of  God. 

REFEREXCE  BOOKS. 

Daybreak  in  Turkey.  Rev.  J.  L.  Barton.  Pilgrim 
Press,  Boston,  1908. 

From  the  Fight.  Carmichael.  Marshall  Bros.,  Lon- 
don, 1900. 

Kim  Lu  Bang  —  Korean  Sketches.  Wagner.  "Woman's 
Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  810  Broadway,  Nashville, 
Teun. 

Between  the  Twilights.  Cornelia  Sorabji.  Harper, 
London,  1908. 

Progress  of  Women's  Education  in  British  Empire 
(pp.  238-282).     Longmans,  Green  &  Co.,  1898. 

Held  by  his  Hand.  —  Story  of  Sister  Yarteni  of  Aintab. 
M.  A.  Proctor.     Frank  Wood,  Printer,  Boston,  1900. 

Daybreak  in  Korea.     Anne  L.  Baird.     Revell,  1909. 

New  Regime  in  China.  Everybody's  Magazine,  May, 
1909. 

Awakening  of  China.     Outlook,  Nov.  28,  1908. 

New  Woman  in  Turkey.     Century,  44,  925. 

New  Ideas  in  India.    John  Morrison,  Macmillan. 


CHAPTER   VI 


PROBLEMS    AND     POLICIES 


PROBLEM  I. 


PROBLEM  II. 


MEETING    RESPONSIBILITIES  ON  THE  FIELD 

Our  resources,  in  numbers,  money,  ma- 
chinery, opportunity. 

REACHING    OUR    CONSTITUENCY,    BY 

1.  Setting  a  standard. 

2.  Education  through  Study  Class. 
Literature. 
Slimmer  Schools. 
The  Sunday-school. 

3.  Publicity  through 
Daily  Press. 
Conferences. 
Exhibits. 

Circulation  of  Leaflets. 
Advertising. 

4.  Business  Methods. 

5.  Prayer. 

ADJUSTING      OUR       RELATIONS       TO       THE 
DENOMINATIONAL    BOARDS 

1.  A  Question  of  Function. 

2.  A  Question  of  Finance. 

3.  A  Question  of  Loyalty, 

4.  A  Question  of     j  Collectors. 

Organization  \  Consolidation. 

PROBLEM    IV.      DEVELOPING    COOPERATION   AND    UNITED 

ACTION 

1.  On  the  Field. 

2.  In  United  Study. 


PROBLEM  III. 


CHAPTER   VI 

PEOBLEMS    AND   POLICIES 

In  preceding  chapters  we  have  studied  the  Outline, 
start,  the  task,  the  work,  the  workers,  and 
the  product  of  Women's  Foreign  Missions.  We 
have  told  the  story  of  how  the  societies  came  to 
be,  of  the  conditions  which  they  sought  to 
relieve  by  the  implanted  Gospel,  of  the  various 
agencies  developed  to  meet  the  need,  of  the 
consecrated  women  who  have  devoted  their 
lives  to  the  service,  of  the  glorious  types  of 
womanhood  manifested  by  the  converts.  It 
remains'  to  speak  of  the  outlook  for  the  future, 
the  problems  which  must  be  met,  and  the  agen- 
cies which  must  be  developed. 

There  is  a  temptation  to  rest  contented  in  what  Present 
has  already  been  accomplished.  It  is  indeed  a  ^^''^^"^• 
wonderful  story,  the  growth  of  the  past  fifty 
years.  None  of  the  founders  could  have  dared 
to  expect  the  great  achievements  which,  by  the 
grace  of  God,  have  been  won.  We  began  in 
weakness,  we  stand  in  power.  In  1861  there 
was  a  single  missionary  in  the  field.  Miss  Mars- 
ton,  iu  Burma;  in  1909,  there  were  4710  un- 
married women  in  the  field,  1948  of  them  from 
the  United  States.  In  1861  there  was  one 
243 


244     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

organized  woman's  society  in  our  country;  in 
1910  there  were  forty-four.  Then  the  support- 
ers numbered  a  few  hundreds  ;  to-day  there  are 
at  least  two  millions.  Then  the  amount  con- 
tributed was  $2000;  last  year  four  million 
dollars  was  raised.  The  development  on  the 
field  lias  been  as  remarkable  as  that  at  home. 
Beginning  with  a  single  teacher,  there  are  at 
the  opening  of  tlie  Jubilee  year  800  teachers, 
140  physicians,  380  evangelists,  79  trained 
nurses,  6783  Bible  women  and  native  helpers. 
Among  the  2100  schools  there  are  260  boarding 
and  high  schools.  Tliere  are  75  hospitals  and 
78  dispensaries.  In  addition  to  carrying  on 
these  large  tasks,  the  women's  missionary  organ- 
izations have  built  colleges,  hospitals,  dispensa- 
ries, nurses'  homes,  orphanages,  leper  asylums, 
homes  for  missionaries'  children,  training  schools, 
and  industrial  j)lan(s.  They  have  set  up  print- 
ing-presses, translated  Bibles,  tracts,  and  school- 
books.  They  have  built  boats  and  founded 
newspapers.  They  have  published  missionary 
magazines,  distributed  mite  boxes,  printed  mill- 
ions of  lesson  leaflets,  study  outlines,  programs, 
and  booklets.  They  have  maintained  offices, 
state  and  national  organizations,  yearly  and  tri- 
ennial conv.entions.  They  have  developed  a  fine 
network  of  unpaid  helpers  with  which  to  cover 
the  entire  country.  It  is  an  achievement  of 
which  women  may  well  be  proud.  Bat  it  is  only 
a  feeble  beginning  of  what  they  can  do  and  will 


Mrs.  Satthiaxadhan,  Editor  axd  An 


PROBLEMS  AND  POLICIES  245 

do,  when  the  movement  is  well  on  its  feet,  t'ar 
better  and  more  wholesome  than  for  us  to  form 
mutual  admiration  societies,  glorying  in  our 
part,  is  it  to  turn  our  attention  to  the  sober 
study  of  the  task  that  lies  before  us. 

There  are  four  chief  problems  which  lie  be-  Problems. 
fore  us:  (1)  Meeting  our  responsibilities  on  the 
field  ;  (2)  reaching  our  constituency  ;  (3)  ad- 
justing our  relations  to  the  general  denomina- 
tional Boards  ;  (4)  developing  cooperation  and 
united  action. 

Too  often  we  have  been  playing  with  our  First:  re- 
responsibilities.  We  have  sent  out  a  scout  and  tfg°°oj\  \^q 
failed  to  support  her  ;  we  have  opened  a  sta-  field, 
tion  and  given  no  buildings  and  equipment;  we 
have  overlapped  sometimes,  and  sometimes  we 
have  scattered.  But  always  and  everywhere 
what  we  have  done  has  been  only  the  pitiful 
shadow  of  what  we  ought  to  do  and  could  do. 
What  are  140  physicians  among  a  half-billion 
women  ?  What  are  2100  schools  to  the  250  mill- 
ion children  who  ought  to  be  in  school  ?  We 
congratulate  ourselves  on  our  great  work.  The 
glory  is  all  God's,  the  shame  ours.  He  has 
taken  our  scant  gifts  and  multiplied  them,  but 
what  are  they  ?  Let  us  never  think  we  are 
meeting  the  need  of  the  heathen  world  ;  we  are 
only  touching  its  edges.  If  physicians  were  no 
more  frequent  in  America  than  they  are  in  the 
non-Christian  world,  we  should  have  but  thirty- 
two    all  told,    male  and  female,  for  the  entire 


246     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

UniteLl  States.  Imagine  how  pleasant  it  would 
be  to  have  but  one  physician  able  to  perform  a 
simple  surgical  operation  in  the  states  of  Colo- 
rado, Montana,  and  Wyoming;  to  have  only 
one  available  for  western  New  York.  For  we 
could  average  no  more  than  one  to  2,500,000  of 
the  population  if  we  were  no  better  supplied  than 
is  the  no'i-Christian  world.  Or  take  the  schools. 
In  India  less  than  ten  per  cent  of  the  men  can 
read,  and  of  women  less  than  one  per  cent,  tak- 
ing the  country  as  a  whole.  la  China,  likewise, 
ten  per  cent  is  a  liberal  estimate  to  put  on  the 
number  of  literate  men,  and  one  per  cent  on  the 
women.  When  we  think  of  the  hundreds  of 
millions  in  ignorancj,  and  realize  how  dark  a 
prison  ignorance  really  is,  we  see  that  educa- 
tional missions  are  only  beginning. 

What  a  problem  it  is  to  get  this  vision  of  the 
whole  before  our  women,  so  that  they  shall 
undertake  not  merely  a  work  but  the  work  ; 
shall  see  the  whole  task  and  their  own  definite 
share  in  that  task.  John  Mott  and  Robert 
Speer  liave  done  much  to  focus  the  attention  of 
the  church  on  this  problem.  Their  phamplets, 
The  Wonderful  Challenge  to  this  G-eneration  of 
Christians,  Speer,  The  World^s  Uvangalization, 
Mott,  ought  to  be  read,  pondered,  and  inwardly 
digested  by  every  woman  who  is  trying  to  further 
the  cause  of  missions.  In  these  they  clearly 
show  that  the  Protestant  Church  has  (1)  the 
numbers,    (2)    the  money,  (3)  the  machinery. 


PROBLEMS  AXD   POLICIES  247 

(4)  the  moral  resources,  (5)  the  opportunity, 
to  carry  the  Gospel  to  the  entire  world  within 
the  present  generation. 

In  our  own  country  we  have  one  Protestant  Numbers. 
church-member  to  every  four  in  the  entire 
population,  men,  women,  and  children.  This 
means  a  Protestant  constituency  of  at  least 
65,000,000.  There  are  in  colleges  and  universi- 
ties of  the  four  great  Protestant  countries  161,- 
000  students.  In  one  generation  there  will  be 
graduated  from  these  institutions  one  million 
two  hundred  thousand.  If  only  four  in  a  hun- 
dred of  these  were  sent  into  the  field,  it  would 
be  48,000,  all  the  missionaries  necessary. 

When  we  speak  of  the  money  which  is  accu-  Money. 
mulated  in  Christian  countries,  the  totals  are 
inconceivably  great.  In  the  United  States 
alone  more  wealth  has  been  piled  up  since 
the  Civil  War  than  in  all  the  centuries  since  the 
birth  of  Christ  in  all  the  world.  If  the  Prot- 
testant  communicants  of  the  world  have  only 
their  due  proportion  of  this  wealth,  they  have 
to-day,  866,000,000,000.  Of  this  they  gave  in 
1906  less  than  one  one  hundred  and  seventy- 
fifth  of  their  income.  The  wealth  in  the  United 
States  increased  from  1890-1900  at  the  rate  of 
82,900,000,000  a  year.  If  Protestants  added  only 
their  numerical  proportion  to  this  wealth,  and 
every  one  knows  they  added  much  more,  they 
added  in  1906  8725,000,000  to  their  accumula- 
tions. 


248   WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

But  some  one  hastens  to  remark  that,  wher- 
ever tliese  untold  millions  may  be,  they  have 
none  of  them  stuck  to  her,  or  her  church,  or 
her  missionary  society.  This  is  doubtless  true 
in  some  cases,  yet  the  force  of  the  argument  is 
not  broken.  It  is  morally  certain  tliat  Prot- 
estants do  have  their  due  proportion  of  these 
savings-bank  deposits,  stocks,  bonds,  mortgages, 
farms,  and  business  enterprises  in  which  the 
wealth  of  the  country  is  invested;  they  are 
richer  than  they  were  ten  years  ago.  Further- 
more, it  is  often  true  that  the  woman  wlio 
makes  this  objection  has  shared  in  the  general 
increase  without  realizing  it.  Fifteen  years 
ago  she  thought  a  five-dollar  hat  good  enough  ; 
now  she  pays  ten.  Then,  two  pairs  of  shoes 
were  her  stock ;  now  she  has  pumps  and 
low-cuts  and  boots  and  slippers  and  white 
for  summer.  An  automobile  in  her  cliurch 
ten  years  ago  would  have  excited  remark; 
now  there  are  a  dozen.  Two-thousand-dol- 
lar incomes  are  now  more  frequent  than  half 
that  amount  then.  Ah,  yes  !  but  the  terrible 
cost  of  living  !  Part  of  that  cost  is  an  ad- 
vancing standard  of  comfort  :  three  bath- 
rooms instead  of  one,  a  two-weeks'  vacation 
instead  of  one,  trips  and  entertainments, 
clothes,  pictures,  and  pretty  things  for  the  house. 
Insensibly  our  own  demands  increase  so  that  we 
seem  no  richer  for  all  the  change.  There  is  no 
harm,  but  great  good,  in  all  this,  if  our  giving 


PROBLEMS  AND  POLICIES  249 

keeps  pace  with  the  rising  standard.  Let  us 
i'ace  the  fact  that  we  are  amply  able  to  Chris- 
tianize the  world  if  we  care  to ;  that  Christian 
women  have  their  full  share  in  their  own  hands, 
to  use  if  they  will. 

We  have  the  tools,  the  organization,  the  Tools. 
machinery.  We  do  not  need  to  create  agencies. 
We  have  500  societies  already  in  the  field. 
Buildings  are  built,  languages  learned,  customs 
already  familiar,  the  Bible  translated.  What 
is  needed  in  simple  reenforcement,  addition, 
enlargement.  It  is  as  if  a  railroad  were  all  sur- 
veyed, graded,  track  laid,  stations  built,  trains 
running,  business  flourishing,  credit  sound.  It 
does  not  need  to  begin  at  the  beginning,  in  order 
to  enlarge  its  capacity  and  to  meet  its  growing 
business.  All  the  slow,  difficult  pioneer  tasks 
have  been  accomplished.  It  needs  to  parallel 
its  tracks,  double  its  rolling-stock,  build  branch 
lines,  enlarge  its  working  force. 

We  have  the  moral  resources,  the  educated  Power, 
church  membership,  the  Sunday-school,  the  open 
Bible,  the  spiritual  leaders  of  vision  and  insight, 
the  ever  present,  energizing  spirit  of  God,  the 
undefeated  purpose  of  the  risen  Christ. 

AVe  have  the  opportunity  ;   there  are  nerves  Opportun- 
that  run    under  the  seas  binding  all  lands  to-  ^^^' 
gether ;  there  are  swift  ships  and  far-stretching 
railways ;  there  are  treaties  of  commerce  open-    - 
ing  doors  to  closed  lands ;  there  are  great  race 
movements  urging  on  whole  peoples  to  desire 


250    ]VESTJ':iiX  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

our  schools,  to  ask  for  our  physicians,  to  pur- 
chase our  Bible,  to  read  our  books,  to  welcome 
our  missionaries.  To-day  there  are  vast  sec- 
tions that  have  been  waiting  ten  years  for 
teachers  to  be  sent  them  in  answer  to  their 
ui'gent  plea.  If  every  missionary  were  mul- 
tiplied by  four,  we  could  not  enter  the  ave- 
nues of  useful  service  standing  wide  open  before 
us.  The  walls  of  Jericho  are  fallen  flat ;  it 
remains  to  enter  in. 

Some  such  vision  of  the  need,  the  opportunity, 
the  possibilities,  must  be  placed  before  our  mem- 
bers. And  to  this  must  be  added  a  definite 
conception  of  our  sliare  in  the  whole.  There 
is  inspiration  in  the  definite.  How  many  people 
are  in  our  particular  corners  of  the  field  for 
which  we  are  responsible,  and  we  alone?  How 
does  our  work  meet  the  need  ? 
Only  forty-  Dr.  Howard  Agnew  tells  a  story  which  illus- 
iiine  mare.  Urates  this  point  admirably.  It  seems  that  there 
was  a  young  son  of  a  missionary  who  heard  his 
father  say  to  the  native  congregation  that  if 
each  Christian  in  that  particular  city  could 
win  fifty,  the  whole  city  would  be  Christianized. 
Twelve-year-old  accepted  his  sliare  of  the  respon- 
sibility without  reservation.  Every  day  at 
family  prayers  a  boy  friend  of  his,  a  Hindu, 
was  remembered,  and  such  successful  personal 
,  work  was  done  that  in  a  few  months  his  friend 
was  baptized.  Radiant  with  happiness  the  boy 
watched  the  baptism,  and  then  said  hopefully 
to  his  father,  ''  Only  forty-nine  left  for  me." 


PROBLEMS  AND  POLICIES  251 

Our  second  problem  is  simply  the  home  base   Second : 
of  our  first.     So  soon  as  we  attack  in  earnest  the   '■^''^^^^^s  . 

.  ,  ~  .  ,  our  constit- 

probiem  ot  meeting  the  needs  of  heathen  women  uency. 
and  children,  we  shall  be  driven  to  delve 
into  the  depths  of  this  second  question.  We 
must  reach  our  constituency,  or  fail  in  the  first 
undertaking.  The  women  of  the  Protestant 
churches  of  the  United  States  number  at  least 
twelve  millions.  Of  these  it  many  be  doubted 
whether  we  have  enlisted  in  support  of  foreign 
missionary  work  one-fourth.  It  is  not  enough 
to  reach  a  small  group  of  the  choice  spirits  in 
each  church;  our  business  is  wnth  all  the  women 
of  the  church.  The  problem  of  reaching  them 
will  demand  our  best  thought  and  endeavor  for 
another  generation,  as  it  has  for  the  last  two. 
The  point  is  not  that  we  have  not  tried,  but 
that  we  have  not  yet  succeeded.  Magnificent 
pioneer  work  has  been  done,  many  obstacles 
have  been  removed,  many  strong  agencies  de- 
veloped; it  now  remains,  as  in  case  of  the  work 
on  the  field,  to  advance. 

If  we  are  really  to  reach  our  constituency,  the  Setting  the 
first  requisite  is  to  get  the  standard  clearly  st^^'^^rd. 
set  before  us.  So  long  as  we  do  not  consciously 
aim  for  the  whole,  we  shall  never  reach  more 
than  a  fraction.  The  ideal,  every  yeoman  mem- 
ber of  the  cliurch  a  member  of  the  missionary 
society^  must  be  not  passively  but  actively  ac- 
cepted. It  is  a  great  gain  to  the  Episcopal  women 
to  have  incorporated  in  their  auxiliary  consti- 


252   WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 


A  "  Stand- 
ard of 
Excel- 
lence." 


tution  the  idea  that  every  churchwoman,  by 
virtue  of  her  baptism,  becomes  a  member  of  the 
missionary  society.  It  is  for  the  individual 
simply  to  ratify  and  act  upon  a  relation  which 
already  exists.  ISuch  a  conception  affords  van- 
tage ground  from  which  to  do  aggressive  work 
to  make  the  ideal  real.  Too  often,  it  is  to  be 
feared,  we  have  accepted  as  part  of  tlie  universal 
scheme  of  things  the  participation  of  a  small 
fraction  of  the  women  of  the  church  in  mission- 
ary activities. 

In  one  state  organization  a  ''■Standard  of 
Excellence''''  was  determined  upon,  and  a  record 
kept  by  the  secretary  of  the  number  of  points 
attained  by  each  society.  The  banner  society 
might  easily  be  one  of  the  smaller  and  weaker, 
as  the  standard  of  excellence  was  based  on 
business  methods  and  proportionate  increases. 
The  following  were  the  points  on  which  credits 
were  given : 

1.  A  fifteen  percent  increase  in  membership. 

2.  A  fifteen  per  cent  increase  in  gifts. 

3.  A  definite  pledge  returned  to  the  treasurer 
before  June  15,  and  paid  before  the  following 
March  15. 

4.  Equal  quarterly  payments  before  the  15th 
of  March,  June,  September,  and  December. 

5.  Contributions  taken  in  the  Sunday-school. 

6.  Letters  from  officers  promptly  answered. 

7.  Magazine  subscriptions  equal  in  number 
to  half  the  membership  of  the  society. 


PROBLEMS   AND  POLICIES  253 

8.  At  least  one  praise  service  held. 

9.  Day  of  prayer  observed  in  B'ebruary. 

10.  Two  mission-study  classes. 

11.  Prayer  calendar   in  the  hands  of  every 
member. 

12.  An  average  attendance  at  regnlar  meet- 
ings equal  to  two-thirds  of  the  membership. 

Any  society  which  met  these  twelve  require- 
ments was  regarded  as  perfectly  satisfactory. 
It  is  safe  to  say  that  no  one  society  embodied 
all  these  varied  points  of  excellence ;  but  the 
good  results  of  setting  such  a  standard  before 
them  was  soon  apparent.  (1)  A.  wholesome 
rivalry  was  stimulated  and  an  interest  to  know 
whether  the  local  auxiliary  were  measuring 
up  to  its  full  duty.  (2)  Better  business  habits 
were  cultivated  in  the  attempt  to  score  on 
points  3,  4,  and  6.  (3)  Emphasis  was  laid  on 
the  necessity  of  the  spiritual.  (4)  The  problem 
of  increasing  gifts  and  membership  was  pre- 
sented in  tangible,  concrete  form,  and  so  made 
at  once  simpler  and  more  pressing.  (5)  The 
smaller  and  weaker  societies  did  not  find  them- 
selves at  a  disadvantage  in  comparison  with  the 
stronger  societies.  In  fact,  some  of  the  points  of 
excellence  were  more  easily  reached  by  the  weak 
than  by  the  strong  societies.  In  carrying  out 
this  plan  it  was  necessary  that  each  society 
know  its  rank  and  be  encouraged  each  year  to 
better  its  record.  Such  a  policy,  lovingly  and 
encouragingly  held    for  years,  must  raise   the 


264   WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

standard.  What  points  could  best  be  included 
in  the  standard  could  only  be  determined  by  local 
conditions.  It  might  be  best  at  first  to  place 
a  standard  less  exacting  before  the  members, 
and  then  gradually  to  raise  this  as  more  and 
more  societies  succeeded  in  meeting  normal  re- 
quirements. To  set  the  standard  high  enough 
to  inspire  ambition  and  not  so  high  as  to  dis- 
courage effort  is  the  task  of  the  executive 
officers. 
Education.  Unlcss  (2)    our  constituency   is  really    edu- 

cated in  missions,  very  little  permanent  hold 
will  be  gained  upon  loyalty  or  resources.  The 
woman  who  is  a  bit  muddled  as  to  whether 
"  Telugu  work  "  is  a  new  style  of  embroidery  or 
the  name  of  a  book  is  easily  switched  off  from 
her  missionary  allegiance  by  any  chance  fad  or 
fakir.  Little  pellets  of  information,  most  of 
them  very  dry  and  very  stale,  are  not  a  nutri- 
tious diet  on  which  to  raise  missionary  workers. 
Predigested  tablets  pall  on  the  most  avid  mission- 
ary appetites.  Nothing  educates  like  study. 
Hence,  if  we  are  ever  to  reach  our  whole  con- 
stituency, we  must  magnify  (a)  the  study  class. 
There  ought  to  be  groups  of  mothers,  groups 
of  daughters,  Sunday-school  classes,  societies, 
all  sorts  and  conditions  of  organizations  really 
studying  missions.  The  results  where  this 
policy  has  been  faithfully  tried  are  little  short 
of  amazing.  At  the  schools  of  missions  held  in 
many  summer  schools  throughout  the  country 


PROBLEMS  AND  POLICIES  255 

last  year  the  question  in  regard  to  the  results 
of  stud}'  of  missions  was  asked.  The  answers  in 
one  school  represented  twenty  states ;  in  all  of 
them  were  answers  from  widely  separated  locali- 
ties. The}'"  were  virtually  unanimous  :  "  Has 
doubled  the  membership  of  our  circle,"  "  has 
raised  our  average  gift  from  one  dollar  to  five," 
"has  made  our  missionary  programs  more  inter- 
esting than  those  at  the  club,"  "  has  resulted  in 
getting  missions  studied  in  our  woman's  club," 
"has  united  the  women  of  our  church  as  never 
before,"  "  resulted  in  our  assuming  the  support 
of  a  missionary,"  "much  more  interest,"  "our 
women  will  talk  now  and  not  write  papers  as 
they  did  before." 

Not  that  the  study  class  is  the  only  form  of 
education :  the  lecture,  the  periodicals,  the  li- 
brary, are  all  parts  of  the  process.  There  are 
many  churches  with  a  five-thousand-dollar  organ 
and  without  a  five-dollar  missionary  library. 
There  are  others  in  which  the  subject  of  mis- 
sions is  invariably  connected  with  a  collection. 
We  must  trust  God  and  trust  nature.  It  is 
profitable  to  get  the  facts  to  the  women.  When 
that  is  done,  the  connection  with  the  pocket-book 
is  already  established.  The  missionary  society 
was  not  made  for  the  contribution  box,  but  the 
contribution  box  for  the  missionary  society. 

Another  educational  agency  is  (5)  the  summer 
school.  In  many  states  it  is  now  customary  to 
have  a  week  set  apart  in  the  local  Chautauqua 


250   WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

or  summer  assembly  for  the  Women's  Mission- 
ary Societies.  In  these  summer  schools  methods 
are  discussed,  literature  circulated,  the  text-book 
for  the  coming  3'ear  taught,  lectures  by  distin- 
guished speakers  given,  and  innumerable  infor- 
mal conferences  held. 

It  is  safe  to  say  that  in  twenty-five  different 
localities  last  summer  such  schools  were  held, 
with  a  registration  of  from  one  hundred  to  live 
hundred  each.  The  reflex  influence  upon  the 
societies  is  already  marked.  It  could  be  much 
greater  if  the  local  auxiliaries  would  adopt  tho 
definite  policy  of  sending  a  representative  to 
one  of  these  each  year,  if  possible  ;  if  not,  once 
in  two  years.  In  one  society  a  mite-box  stands 
on  the  president's  desk  at  every  meeting,  and 
into  this  are  dropped  the  offerings  that  pay  the 
expenses  of  the  delegate.  One  woman  rented 
a  double  room  for  the  entire  week,  and  had 
relays  of  two  from  her  society  in  a  neighboring 
town  in  attendance  during  the  week.  Ten 
women  enjoyed  tlie  inspiration  of  tlie  meet- 
ings by  this  kindness,  and  the  society  took  a 
new  lease  of  life.  Sometimes  eight  or  ten 
churches  combine  to  send  one  delegate,  who 
agrees  to  report  to  them  all  on  her  return. 
The  main  thing  is  to  get  the  policy  of  annual 
delegate-sending  firmly  established. 
The  Sunday-  The  most  important  educational  agency  to 
school.  ^^^^  ji^  reaching  the  whole  constituency  is  (c)  the 

Sunday -school.       Nine-tenths    of    the    teachers 


PROBLEMS  AXD   POLICIES  2o< 

and  many  of  the  superintendents  are  women. 
It  is  our  work  to  see  that  the  Sunday-schools 
are  fully  used  as  training-schools  for  missions. 
The  mistake  in  the  past  has  been  a  too  great 
emphasis  on  collections  and  too  little  on  educa- 
tion. We  have  fished  for  pennies  rather  than 
for  people,  and  according  to  our  faith  has  it  been 
unto  us.  The  Sunday-school  is  primarily  a 
place  for  education.  It  is  our  business  to  see 
that  missions  form  part  of  the  curriculum. 
Regular,  systematic,  frequent,  consecutive  in- 
struction in  missions  should  be  provided,  with 
opportunities  to  give  as  the  expression  of  an  in- 
terest already  formed.  In  one  primary  class  the 
teacher  devoted  ten  minutes  each  Sunday  dur- 
ing one  quarter  to  the  charming  object-lessons 
on  Japan,  put  out  by  the  Young  People's  Mis- 
sionary ^Movement.  Her  children  knew  the  two 
little  dolls  by  name,  entered  into  their  home 
life,  loved  them.  When,  at  the  end  of  this  sym- 
pathetic stud}",  mite-boxes  were  given  out  to 
be  brought  in  full  by  Easter  to  help  provide  a 
kindergarten  for  Japanese  children,  there  were 
none  of  the  usual  fatalities  in  the  way  of  lost, 
forgotten,  dismembered,  or  aneemic  boxes.  The 
children  gave  to  something  they  knew  and 
loved. 

Nothing  is   more  important   for   the    future   importance, 
welfare  of  missionary  work  than  active  efforts 
now  to  help  in  the  reorganization  of  the  Sun- 
day-school.    A  missionary  superintendent,  sup- 


258   WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

pleraental  lessons,  exercises,  reviews,  regular 
contributions  are  well-marked  lines  of  develop- 
ment. In  one  progressive  school  an  expert 
teacher  is  given  a  room  with  blackboard,  curio 
cabinet,  and  library.  Here  each  Sunday  she 
teaches  about  twenty-five  pupils  and  their 
teachers.  Each  class  has  three  Sundays  in  suc- 
cession, then  she  takes  another  group.  Her 
lessons  are  adapted  to  the  age  of  the  classes 
brought  together.  In  some  cases  the  Sunday- 
school  work  is  under  the  care  of  the  general  de- 
nominational Board,  in  some  under  the  woman's 
Board,  but  in  any  case  the  responsibility  for 
seeing  that  missions  are  presented  and  system- 
atically taught  will  devolve,  for  the  most  part, 
on  women.  If  each  woman's  missionary  society 
would  have  a  committee  on  Sunday-school 
work,  much  might  be  accomplished.  Corre- 
spondence witli  mission  headquarters  would 
bring  help  in  the  way  of  definite  plans,  sup- 
plies, and  literature.  Even  in  schools  where 
it  seems  difficult  to  do  much,  a  beginning  could 
be  made. 

Closely  connected  with  education  is  the  third 
requisite,  publicity.  The  Women's  Christian 
Temperance  Union  has  magnified  this  agency, 
with  the  result  that  there  is  seldom  a  daily  paper 
that  does  not  have  its  corner  for  Women's  Chris- 
tian Temperance  Union  doings.  We  have  neg- 
lected it.  There  is  no  well-organized  national 
Press  Committee,    with   its   state   and    county 


PROBLEMS   AND  POLICIES  259 

branches,  which  has  the  duty  of  supplying,  not 
sermons,  but  facts  and  news  to  the  press.  We 
have  been  timid  about  sowing  our  leaflets  lav- 
ishly ;  and  having  sown  sparingly,  we  have  also 
reaped  sparingly.  To  be  sure,  we  may  not  take 
funds  solicited  for  missions  and  spend  them  on 
publicity,  but  we  may  solicit  funds  for  this 
purpose.  Here  is  Mrs.  Belmont  investing  thou- 
sands of  dollars  to  scatter  suffrage  literature 
everywhere.  There  are  many  missionary  Mrs. 
Belmonts  who,  for  the  sake  of  the  sure  returns, 
would  invest  money  in  a  similar  undertaking, 
if  once  the  need  was  felt,  and  the  campaign 
clearly  marked  out.  Here  is  a  great  agency, 
the  public  Press,  ready  to  our  hand,  if  only 
we  are  ready  to  submit  to  its  laws,  that  it  may 
serve  us. 

One  of  the  best  forms  of  publicity  is  the 
(a)  conference  or  convention^  as  developed  by 
the  Laymen's  Movement.  Why  not  have  a  lay 
woman's  movement,  with  its  inspirational  gather- 
ings, its  planned  campaign,  its  definite  presenta- 
tion of  the  whole  task?  Another  is  the  (6)  mis- 
sionari/  exhibit,  or  exposition.  Two  such  have 
been  held  in  London,  visited  by  hundreds  of 
thousands,  conveying  concrete  impressions  to 
the  eye  that  can  never  be  forgotten.  Los  An- 
geles had  one,  a  few  years  ago,  that  united  the 
Christian  people  of  the  entire  city  in  its  prepa- 
ration, and  drew  crowds  to  walk  spell-bound 
through  its  carefully  reproduced  scenes  of  Ori- 


of  liti'r;i 
ture 


2GU    WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

ental  life,  studying  its  illuminating  charts  and 
exhibits.  Wliy  could  not  such  an  exposition 
be  assembled,  u  permanent  corps  of  attendants 
trained,  and  the  wliole  moved  from  city  to  city  ? 
r.ir.Miiation  l*erhapsthe  most  important  form  of  publicity  is 

(<?)  tJie  circulation  of  the  literature  printed  by  the 
missionary  societies.  The  women's  Boards  have 
been  pioneers  in  the  printing  of  attractive  leaflet 
literature.  Their  little  stories  and  poems,  brief 
biographies,  historical  series  on  separate  lands 
and  missions,  are  admirable  examples  of  good 
printing  and  clever  illustration.  In  the  circula- 
tion of  this  printed  matter,  so  carefully  prepared, 
so  convincingly  put,  there  is  still  much  to  be  de- 
sired. Two  theories  contend  for  mastery  :  one 
that  the  literature  should  be  a  source  of  profit ; 
the  other  that  it  should  be  used  as  propaganda, 
even  at  an  expense.  There  is  something  to  be 
said  on  both  sides.  It  would  be  a  questionable 
use  of  missionary  funds,  and  a  serious  blunder 
in  policy,  to  take  any  considerable  proportion 
of  them  for  printing  expenses.  On  the  other 
hand,  these  leaflets  are  seedcorn,  and  should  be 
scattered  broadcast  if  an  abundant  harvest  is 
expected.  Several  policies  are  already  being 
tried  to  meet  this  situation. 

1.  Circulation  of  pamphlet  libraries.  —  An  at- 
tractive group  of  leaflets  on  a  given  field  or 
topic  is  placed  together  in  a  box  or  stout  enve- 
lope. These  are  sent  to  a  number  of  women  in 
succession.     Each  one  checks  off  her  name  from 


PROBLEMS  AND  POLICIES  261 

the  list,  which  is  at  last  returned  to  the  one 
responsible  for  the  group.  Or  still  simpler,  a 
circulating  library  of  pamphlets  in  pretty  boxes 
is  given  out  at  Sunday-school,  and  charged  to 
the  individual  borrower,  as  books  are.  In  one 
state  a  single  secretary  has  made  hundreds  of 
these  pamphlet  collections  and  circulated  them 
amonof  thousands  of  women. 

2.  Distribution.  —  In  some  churches  a  leaflet 
is  given  to  each  member  on  missionary  Sundays 
with  the  request  that  it  be  passed  on.  The  ex- 
pense of  this  is  slight,  as  some  of  the  most  effec- 
tive leaflets  are  free,  and  others  sell  for  a  cent 
or  two.  The  cost  of  this  frequent  distribution 
of  leaflets  is  covered  by  a  free-will  offering. 
Each  state  organization  should  devise  some 
method  of  financing  and  organizing  the  wide 
distribution  of  literature.  A  special  fund  may 
be  created  and  special  gifts  solicited. 

3.  Advertising.  —  Often  the  most  attractive 
leaflets  may  be  unread  because  not  properly  ad- 
vertised. In  one  church  a  bulletin  board  hangs 
over  the  stand  on  which  leaflets  are  placed  for 
free  distribution.  A  question  on  the  bulletin 
board  directs  attention  to  the  leaflets.  "  Do 
you  know  who  the  first  Chinese  woman  physi- 
cian is  ?  This  will  tell  you,"  might  lead  people 
to  pick  up  the  folder  telling  all  about  Hii  King 
Eng.  A  question  may  be  printed  on  the  order 
of  service,  whose  answer  is  to  be  found  in  a 
leaflet  distributed  through  the  pews. 


262     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

System.  The    fourth    requisite    is    a    business    one. 

Patiently,  persistently,  with  business  attention 
to  detail,  we  must  address  ourselves  to  winning 
our  constituency.  The  once-a-year  collection, 
the  notice  from  the  pulpit  tliat  "  all  the  ladies 
are  cordially  invited  "  must  give  way  to  system- 
atic canvass  at  least  twice  a  year,  the  census 
of  the  whole  membership  and  the  definite  knowl- 
edge of  difficulties.  If  a  church  is  one-third 
composed  of  teachers  and  business  women,  and 
the  Woman's  Missionary  Society  continues  to 
hold  all  its  meetings  at  three  in  the  afternoon,  it 
will  continue  to  be  a  very  small  group  of  mothers 
in  Israel.  To  know  the  field  as  a  drummer 
knows  his  territory,  to  go  after  the  uninterested 
with  all  the  skilled  tactics  of  those  who  sell 
breakfast  food,  to  practise  democracy,  to  hold 
to  the  open  mind,  and  to  keep  everlastingly  at 
it,  these  are  the  business  secrets  of  reaching  our 
whole  constituency. 

Fiayer.  The  fifth  requisite  is  spiritual,  and  without 

it  all  the  others  will  be  in  vain.  Missions  be- 
gan in  prayer,  are  sustained  in  prayer,  and  will 
spread  only  as  those  who  love  them  unite  in  a 
fellowship  of  hearts  to  advance  upon  their  knees. 
Believing,  intercessory,  fervent,  loving,  undis- 
couraged,  and  unselfish  prayer  will  win  the 
whole  church  to  sympathy  with  the  great  pur- 
pose of  the  Master. 

One  of  the  problems  of  the  next  ten  years 
bids  fair  to  be  the  adjusting  of  the  relationship 


PROBLEMS  AND  POLICIES 


263 


which  exists  between  the  general  denominational 
Boards  and  the  women.  While  in  general  these 
relations  have  been  of  the  most  amicable  nature, 
at  times  there  has  been  some  slight  tension. 
In  the  beginning  the  idea  of  all  the  women's 
societies  was  frankly  auxiliary  and  supple- 
mental. They  were  to  be  "gleaners  "  or  "  help- 
ing hands  in  the  great  field."  Their  function 
was  to  provide  an  outfit  for  the  missionaries, 
pay  the  salaries  of  unmarried  females,  or  merely 
to  act  as  collecting  agents  in  the  parish  for  the 
Board  which  should  spend  the  money.  The 
exigencies  of  the  situation  have  led  to  wide 
departures  from  this  earlier  ideal.  The  women's 
Boards  have  at  the  solicitation  of  the  general 
denominational  Boards  supported  stations,  built 
buildings,  opened  new  work,  paid  for  real  estate, 
in  fact,  done  about  all  that  any  Board  could  do 
in  the  way  of  diversified  activities.  From  the 
beginning  the  Methodist  women  have  been 
frankly  independent  of,  though  closely  associated 
with,  the  general  Board. 

With  the  very  great  expansion  of  women's 
work  for  women  has  come  questioning  of  the 
organic  relations  which  these  organizations 
sustain  to  the  general  Boards.  Their  rapid 
progress  has  amazed,  and  sometimes  raised  the 
questions :  Are  these  gleaners  to  become  reapers  ? 
Have  these  large  sums  been  collected  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  general  missionary  funds,  so  that 
Peter  has  been  robbed  to  pay  Paulina  ?     Is  the 


Third:  Ad- 
justing our 
relations    to 
the  general 
denomina- 
tional 
Boards. 


Questions 


264    WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

loyalty  of  women  weakened  to  tlie  cluiich,  and 
a  new  loyalt}'^  to  women's  work  substituted  ? 
Would  it  not  be  better  to  have  one  great  organ- 
ization of  the  entire  church,  to  which  both  men 
and  women  contributed  ?  Tliese  are  questions 
which  are  bound  to  be  asked,  and  which  we 
must  consider  squarely  and  on  their  merits. 
Let  us  take  them   up  in  order. 

1.  Are  the  (/leaner s  likeli/  to  become  reapers? 
There  is  ver}'  little  evidence  of  any  such  alarm- 
ing tendency.  The  larger  sums  collected  seem 
rather  the  results  of  larger  fields,  larger  crops, 
and  fatter  purses  on  the  part  of  the  women.  It 
is  still  true  in  the  vast  majority  of  societies  that 
funds  are  raised  on  the  two-cents-a-week  plan. 
The  first  legacy  of  the  American  Board  was 
given  by  a  woman,  and  it  still  remains  true  that  a 
large  proportion  of  the  legacies  in  all  the  Boards 
come  from  women.  Furthermore  the  work  done 
by  the  women's  societies  has  remained  strictly 
departmental,  a  work  for  women  and  girls  ;  and 
hence  less  in  danger  of  superseding  the  large  gen- 
eral work  in  the  affections  of  the  contributors. 

2.  Have  these  large  sums  been  collected  at  the 
expense  of  the  general  missionary  treasuries? 
Here  the  testimony  is  clear  and  unimpeachable. 
They  have  not.  The  whole  question  was  in- 
vestigated by  the  secretaries  of  the  American 
Board  at  a  time  when  the  prejudices  against 
women's  work  were  much  keener  and  more 
easily  roused  than  now.     We  cannot  do  better 


PROBLEMS  AND  POLICIES  265 

than  to  quote   the  findings  of   the  committee. 
They  show  tliat  in  1867   (before  the  organiza- 
tion   of   the    Woman's    Board)    the    income  of 
the    American    Board    was  8138,000.      At  that 
time  the  contributions  of  Presbyterians  as  well 
as  those  of   Congregationalists   were    collected 
through  the   American    Board,   and    amounted 
to  one-third  of  the  total.     Within  a  few  years 
this  contribution  was  withdrawn  because  of  the 
orgranization  of  the  Presbyterian   Board.     From 
1874-1877  were    three  years  of  panic.     Mean- 
while had   occurred    the    Chicago  and    Boston 
fires,  great  conflagrations  wiping  out  much  of 
the  church  property  in  two  of  the  chief  centres  of 
Congregationalism.     Yet  in  the  very  worst  year 
of  the  panic,  1876,  the  receipts  were  §^465,000. 
Now  in  1SG7  the  amount  contributed  by  Con- 
gregationalists   was    about    8300,000    (the   rest 
by  Presbyterians).     In  1876    the  women  con- 
tributed  $100,000   of    the    8165,000    increase; 
leaving  a  gain  from  the  churches  at  large  of 
860,000.     This  period  for  the  causes  mentioned 
is  the  most  unfavorable  which  could  have  been 
chosen ;  yet  it  sustains  the  point. 

The  statement  of  the  secretary  continues  :  "  In 
regard  to  the  expediency  of  the  organization  of 
the  woman's  Board,  I  would  say,  the  question 
was  maturely  considered  before  public  steps 
were  taken.  Our  committee,  as  you  know,  are 
very  conservative.  They  were  satisfied  it  was 
best  for  the  ladies  to  try  the  experiment.     We 


266     WES  TERN  WOMEN  IN  EA  S  TERN  LA  NDS 

are  all  perfectly  satisfied  that  the  move  was  wise. 
The  arguments  for  this  new  departure  are  much 
stronger  now  (1876)  than  they  were  then. 

"a.  Tlie  income  of  the  Board  is  materially  in- 
creased. .  .  .  The  gain  on  the  whole  (mean- 
ing to  the  general  treasury)  I  am  satisfied  is 
three-fourths  of  all  tlie  woman's  Board  receives. 
It  is  so  in  the  East ;  it  is  so  in  the  West. 

"6.  More  important  is  the  fact  that  the  mis- 
sionary interest  developed  among  the  female 
members  of  the  churches  is  much  increased.  .  .  . 

"  c.  The  woman's  Board  is  doing  an  exceed- 
ingly valuable  work  in  the  line  of  interesting 
children  in  missions.  •  .  .  The  fruit  of  the 
effort  will  appear  more  and  more  in  the  future. 

"cZ.  As  to  the  increase  of  expense  I  doubt 
whether  this  is  so.  The  ladies  manage  their 
operations  with  marked  economy." 

A  similar  investigation  was  undertaken  in  the 
Baptist  denomination,  and  a  report  made  by 
President  Faunce  of  Brown  University  in  even 
stronger  terms.  The  truth  seems  to  be  that 
the  lines  of  collection  are  not  parallel  but  di- 
verse. The  women  simply  tapped  a  new  vein 
of  contributions  that  would  not  and  could  not 
be  reached  by  the  methods  of  the  general 
Boards.  To  revert  to  the  figure  of  the  gleaner: 
after  the  great  reapers  had  gone  over  the  field 
there  were  bound  to  be  corners  unreached  and 
chance  sheaves  fallen  where  modern  Ruths  could 
find  handfuls  of  purpose. 


PROBLEMS  AND  POLICIES  267 

3.  Is  the  loyalty  of  women  to  the  mission  work 
of  the  church  weakened  and  a  new  loyalty  to  the 
Woman's  Board  set  up?  No  doubt  there  is  a 
possibility  of  just  this  happening.  We  love 
what  we  give  to.  In  a  church  where  the  pastor 
does  not  love  missions,  does  not  preach  mission- 
ary sermons,  hold  missionary  prayer  meetings, 
urge  the  taking  of  the  missionary  magazines, 
perhaps  the  women  may  not  have  that  burning 
devotion  to  the  denominational  society  that  they 
ought  to  have.  If  the  only  window  open  to 
the  big  world  is  the  woman's  window,  they 
naturally  look  through  that.  So  it  may  be 
safely  said  that  where  this  occurs,  it  is  the  fault 
of  years  of  neglect  on  the  part  of  pastors.  To 
the  credit  of  women's  loyalty  be  it  said,  that  often 
when  there  is  a  lukewarm  pastor  they  prod  him 
on  to  the  annual  offering,  and  do  more  than  their 
share  of  the  giving.  I  know  one  little  country 
church,  which  is  by  no  means  singular,  where 
one  woman  has  given  $25  out  of  the  $26  in 
the  annual  offering,  and  in  addition  is  one  of 
the  little  band  of  women  who  yearly  send  their 
offerinof  of  two  cents  a  week  to  the  Woman's 
Board.  On  the  other  hand,  instances  are  not 
wanting  where  the  pastor  has  wished  to  take 
the  amount  painfully  collected  in  littles  by  the 
women,  and  to  send  it  as  the  church's  contribu- 
tion, without  one  cent  of  additional  money  or  any 
work  by  the  men.  Wherever  there  is  mission- 
ary preaching,  missionary  education  in  regard 


268     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

to  the  general  work  of  the  denomination,  the 
women  will  be  found  taking  their  full  share. 
The  legacy  account  in  all  the  Boards  is  suffi- 
cient proof  of  feminine  loyalty. 

4.  Would  it  7iot  he  better  to  have  one  great  or- 
ganization of  the  entire  church  to  which  both  men 
and  women  contributed?  This  is  the  queslit)n 
that  is  most  agitated  to-day.  Some  of  the 
brethren  say:  "  Let  the  women  collect,  they  are 
such  splendid  collectors.  We  will  spend  it  far 
more  wisely  than  they  can."  Others  say,  "  Let 
us  all  work  together,  have  men  and  women  on 
the  Board,  men  and  women  in  the  work." 

Collectors.  The    first  plan  will    commend  itself  to    few 

women.  The  opportunity  for  self-expression 
and  the  development  that  comes  through  re- 
sponsibility are  as  necessary  to  women  as  to 
men.  It  is  not  the  united  wisdom  of  the  men 
of  the  church  which  would  be  available  for  this 
sacred  office  of  direction,  but  simply  that  of  some 
individual  secretary  or  secretaries.  The  modern 
educated  woman  has  ideas  not  only  on  the  way 
to  collect  money  but  on  the  way  to  spend  it,  and 
the  purposes  for  which  it  should  be  spent. 

Absorption.  Thesccond  plan  is  very  attractive.  It  looks 
ideal  to  have  one  tremendous  organization  with 
men  and  women  working  side  by  side.  Perhaps 
the  day  will  come  in  the  growth  of  the  kingdom 
when  this  can  be,  but  let  us  look  at  all  sides  of 
the  argument  before  hastening  out  of  organiza- 
tions which  have  been  so  blessed  of  God. 


one. 


PROBLEMS  AND  POLICIES  269 

In  the  first  place,  are  men  ready  for  it  ?  Are  Objection 
they  emancipated  from  the  caste  of  sex  so  that 
they  can  work  easily  with  women,  unless  they 
be  head  and  women  clearly  subordinate  ?  Cer- 
tain facts  seem  to  indicate  that  in  spite  of  the 
rapid  strides  undoubtedly  made  in  this  direction 
we  have  still  a  long  stretch  of  unexplored  coun- 
try to  be  traversed  before  the  perfect  democracy 
of  Jesus  is  readied.  When  the  Religious  Edu- 
cation Association  was  formed,  for  example, 
although  for  years  almost  the  only  really  sci- 
entific work  in  the  Sunday  school  had  been  done 
by  women  in  the  primary  department,  no  woman 
was  asked  to  speak,  and  none  was  among  the 
body  of  officers  and  backers  of  the  movement. 
To  have  two  or  three  women  on  a  Board  who 
are  assigned  to  unimportant  committees  would 
hardly  be  satisfactory  to  the  women.  But  in 
the  present  state  of  civilization  could  we  look 
for  much  more  ? 

Again,  would  the  plan  of  consolidation  woi^k  Objection 
well  for  the  interests  of  the  work  ?  For  years 
the  general  Boards  tried  the  lump  method  in 
gathering  their  funds;  but  all  of  them  are  sup- 
plementing that  method  to-day.  When  people 
were  asked  to  give  to  some  great,  intangible  far- 
away thing  labelled  Foreign  Missions,  the  sense 
of  responsibility  was  feeble,  and  the  response 
feeble.  To-day  we  have  the  ''living  link"  by 
which  a  church  agrees  to  become  responsible  to 
send  one,  the  "missionary  pastor,"  by  which  a 


two. 


270     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

church  supports  not  only  its  Lome  pastor  but 
also  its  pastor  on  the  field,  the  "•  substitute  "  idea, 
by  which  a  man  keeps  his  substitulo  working  on 
the  other  side  of  the  world  while  he  sleeps. 
There  are  "station  plans  "  and  "  Kpecifics  "  innu- 
merable. Tlie  result  is  dollars  for  dimes.  The 
Word  had  to  tabernacle  among  us  that  we  might 
touch  Him  ;  so  do  causes.  Now  if  we  were  to 
give  up  that  intimate,  near  appeal  made  by  work 
for  women  and  homes  and  lilllo  children  upon 
the  women  of  the  church,  would  the  cause  gain 
or  lose?  The  experience  cf  denominations 
which  have  tried  consolidation  of  causes  has 
not  been  particularly  successful.  Take  cases 
where,  domestic  and  foreign  missions  are  handled 
by  one  organization,  and  compare  ihe  per  capita 
gifts  with  those  where  separate  a[)pcals  on  the 
merits  of  the  case  are  made.  A'^ain,  suppose 
that  the  same  plan  were  tried  iu  other  lines. 
Would  it  be  a  gain  to  combine  the  Young 
Women's  Christian  Association  and  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association  in  one  vast  organiza- 
tion which  should  jointly  collect  ?  Is  it  not  true 
that  in  the  startling  diversity  (jf  human  interests 
we  must  allow  causes  to  make  their  appeal,  and  se- 
lect their  supporters  by  some  inner  law  of  affin- 
ity? Neither  are  they  rivals.  Each  supports 
and  furthers  the  other.  Philanthropies  depend 
on  the  cultivation  of  the  spirit  of  philanthropy, 
and  each  helps  to  enrich  the  soil  from  which 
good  deeds  spring.     So  long  as  our  national  bill 


PROBLEMS  AND  POLICIES  271 

for  chewing  gum  exceeds  our  gifts  to  foreign 
missions,  and  our  ostrich  feather  and  candy  out- 
puts could  float  the  missionary  benevolences  like 
skiffs  on  a  river,  we  need  not  fear  impoverish- 
ing the  churches  by  too  much  importunity. 

Again,  is  there  not  a  distinctive  place  for  this  Objection 
distinctive  work?  There  is  ahva}'s  a  danger  ^^^' 
that  in  the  pressing  demands  of  the  wider  work 
the  women's  interests  might  be  overlooked,  un- 
less there  were  organizations  specifically  formed 
to  care  for  them.  It  is  only  natural  and  right 
that  the  work  of  establishing  churches,  training 
ministers,  educating  the  future  leaders,  should 
absorb  the  energies  of  men.  The  constant  pres- 
sure for  funds  is  so  great,  the  opportunities  for 
reaching  the  men  of  the  non-Christian  commu- 
nity so  striking,  that  it  is  little  wonder  if,  in  the 
multiplicity  of  demands,  the  work  for  women 
and  children  should  not  be  pressed.  Men  have 
seen  this  need  of  distinctive  women's  work 
clearly  and  have  urged  it  persistently.  One 
missionary  now  on  the  field  said  recently :  "Never 
give  up  your  separate  women's  organizations; 
the  work  for  women  is  sure  to  suffer  if  you  do. 
It  needs  some  one  continually  pushing  on  that 
one  point." 

Once  more,  is  there  not  a  distinctive  contribu-  Objection 
tion  that  the  women's  organizations  may  make  ? 
We  are  not  like  men,  but  diverse.     There  is  a 
feminine  viewpoint  which,  to  be  sure,  is  only 
partial,  but  it  is  different.     Certain  methods  are 


272    WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

tried  out,  certain  experiments  made  that  would 
not  appeal  to  men,  but  do  to  women.  Cannot 
we  cooperate  all  the  better  in  joint  undertakings, 
for  having  the  separate  work  which  each  does 
better  alone  ?  Have  women  no  contribution  to 
add  to  missionary  wisdom  ? 
The  sola-  The  Way  out  from  the  slight  tension  which  has- 

"""■  been  traceable  during  the  last  few  years  is  not 

to  say:  "These  women  are  doing  too  well,  they 
are  raising  four  million  dollars  a  year,  let  us 
absorb  them";  but  rather,  "  If  the  women  can 
do  as  well  with  the  little  left-overs  of  contribu- 
tion, let  us  see  what  can  be  done  with  the  men." 
As  one  of  the  delegates  wittily  put  it  in  the  Lay- 
man's Conference  at  Omaha:  "Go  to  thy  aunt, 
thou  sluggard,  consider  her  ways  and  be  wise." 
The  Laymen's  Movement  is  the  real  answer  to 
the  question.  Organize,  inspire,  inform,  the  men 
of  the  church.  Bring  to  bear  their  splendid, 
solid,  thorough,  businesslike  study  of  the  whole 
situation,  and  such  methods  will  be  devised, 
such  systems  installed,  such  enthusiasm  roused, 
that  in  the  thunderous  answer  of  tlie  men  to  the 
appeal  our  little  feminine  treble  will  rejoice  to 
find  itself  submerged.  Or  to  change  the  figure, 
when  the  main  lead  is  uncovered,  the  brethren 
will  be  too  busy  with  their  pickaxes  mining  the 
glittering  veins  of  gold  to  grudge  women  their 
nuggets  picked  off  the  surface. 
Some  prill-  Let  US  get  down  to  some   principles  in  the 

cipies.  matter.     It  is  good  fur  women  to  give;    their 


rnOBLEMS  AND  POLICIES  273 

husbands  cannot  do  it  for  them.  It  is  good  for 
men  to  give,  their  wives  cannot  do  it  for  them. 
E;ich  has  certain  interests  separate  from  the 
otiier.  Both  have  certain  interests  together. 
It  is  a  woman's  task  to  see  that  the  poor,  down- 
trodden, backw-ard  women  of  the  non-Christian 
world  have  a  chance.  Let  us  take  care  of  the 
kindergartens,  orphanages,  asylums,  and  schools 
that  appeal  most  to  us ;  let  us  touch  the  home 
side  of  life,  believing  that  in  so  doing  we  are  aid- 
ing the  whole  great  enterprise  to  which  as  men 
and  women  we  are  committed. 

The  missionary   undertaking  cannot   escape  Fourth: 

1  .         .  1  •'   T_    •      •       j-i  •        Developing 

the  spirit  of  combination  which  is  m  tne  air,  couperatioa 
which  is  one  of  the  characteristic  tempers  of  the  and  united 

,  ,  J3         •         action. 

new  century.  In  no  respect  has  the  reflex  in- 
fluence of  foreign  missions  been  more  whole- 
some upon  the  home  churches  than  in  the  steady 
jjressure  toward  unity  which  it  has  exerted.  In 
the  presence  of  a  united  heathenism  our  differ- 
ences seem  so  petty  and  the  perpetuating  of 
them  in  the  adopted  country  so  impossible  that 
fences  begin  to  come  down.  In  this  respect  the 
converts  see  with  clearer  vision  than  we.  With 
no  historic  associations  to  endear  and  make  them 
venerable,  our  divergencies  appear  to  them 
at  their  true  value,  incidental.  Oar  essential 
unity  is  to  them  the  one  clear,  vital  fact. 

Already,  on  the  field,  Boards  are  cooperating  Forms  of 
to  establish  union  colleges,  hospitals,  schools,  cooperation. 
and  printing  presses.     In  Western  China  con- 


274    WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 


verts  removing  from  one  city  to  another  find 
their  church  letter  received  freely  in  any  de- 
nomination. In  our  women's  work  we  need  to 
inaugurate  a  policy  of  federation,  consultation, 
consolidation,  a  policy  of  mapping  out  the  work 
as  a  single  campaign  conducted  by  different 
divisions  of  the  same  army.  We  already  have 
a  triennial  conference  of  women's  Boards,  organ- 
ized to  lay  great,  statesmanlike  plans  for  world- 
wide women's  work. 

The  women's  Boards  were  the  pioneers  in  the 
preparation  of  text-books  for  the  interdenomina- 
tional study  of  missions.  It  was  in  1900,  at  the 
Ecumenical  Conference  in  New  York  City,  that 
the  plan  was  broached  of  issuing  a  common 
course  of  missionary  lessons  to  be  used  by  all 
the  women's  societies,  of  whatever  name.  As 
a  result  of  the  interest  manifested  and  the  dis- 
cussion evoked,  a  committee  was  appointed  con- 
sisting of  one  representative  each  from  five 
different  denominations,  which  was  instructed 
to  prepare  a  course  for  the  united  study  of 
missions  on  the  part  of  the  women's  societies. 
The  committee  decided  to  publish  first  an  in- 
troductory study  on  the  history  of  Christian 
missions  prior  to  the  beginning  of  the  modern 
missionary  movement  of  the  nineteenth  century. 
The  committee,  as  is  often  the  case,  had  been 
given  wide  powers  but  no  funds.  They  pro- 
ceeded to  take  up  a  collection  of  fifty  dollars,  and 
armed  with  this,  to  seek  a  publisher.     In  Mac- 


PROBLEMS  AND  POLICIES  275 

millan  was  found  one  with  sufficient  faith  to  get 
out  an  edition  of  five  thousand.  Within  six 
weeks  the  five  thousand  were  exhausted  and  the 
presses  kept  humming  to  supply  the  demand. 
That  first  year  nearly  fifty  thousand  copies  were 
sold,  scattered  throughout  the  entire  country 
in  many  denominations.  The  books  were  used 
by  a  much  larger  number  than  the  sales  would 
indicate,  as  often  one  copy  served  as  the  text- 
book for  an  entire  circle. 

The  success  of  the  first  year  showed  that  a  Subsequent 
real  demand  existed  for  a  broader  study  of  ^^°^- 
missions  than  had  been  possible  up  to  that  time. 
Each  year  since  a  volume  has  been  published. 
For  the  first  book  Louise  Manning  Hodgkins, 
the  author,  had  chosen  the  Latin  title  "Via 
Christi."  Succeeding  writers,  not  to  be  outdone, 
chose  Latin  names.  Caroline  Atwater  Mason 
wrote  "Lux  Christi,  an  Outline  Study  of  India"; 
Arthur  H.  Smith,  "Rex  Christus,  an  Outline 
Study  of  China" ;  William  Elliot  Griffis,  "Dux 
Christus,  an  Outline  Study  of  Japan";  Ellen 
C.  Parsons,  "  Christus  Liberator,  an  Outline 
Study  of  Africa  " ;  Helen  B .  Montgomery, "  Chris- 
tus Redemptor,  an  Ouc  "uo  Study  of  the  Island 
World  of  the  Pacific";  Anna  R.  B.  Lindsay, 
"Gloria  Christi,  an  Outline  Study  of  Missions 
and  Social  Progresri."  This  formed  the  famous 
Christus  series.  The  Latin  titles  were  not  with- 
out their  objections.  One  good  sister  plaintively 
wrote  that  her  circle  would  be  glad  to  take  up 


276    WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

the  study,  but  could  not  because  none  of  them 
read  Latin.  Another  wrote  in  for  "  Christus 
Radiator."  The  last  two  volumes  of  the  series 
have  had  English  titles:  "The  Nearer  and  Far- 
ther East,"  by  Dr.  S.  M.  Zwemer  and  Dr. 
Arthur  J.  Brown,  and  "The  Gospel  in  Latin 
Lands,"  by  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Francis  E.  Chirk. 

(ioodaccom-       It  is  not  easy  to  exaggerate  the  good  accom- 

^  '**  **  ■  plished    by    this    campaign    of    united    study. 

(I)  It  has  brought  the  Boards  together  and 
made  their  leaders  acquainted.  (2)  It  has  led 
to  the  formation  of  summer  schools  for  the 
study  of  missions.  (8)  It  has  changed  the 
cliaracter  of  the  programs  in  thousands  of 
missionary  meetings.  (4)  It  lias  given  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  tlieir  first  glimpse  of  tlie 
missionary  undertaking  as  a  whole.  (5)  It 
has  immensely  broadened  the  sympathies  and 
enlarged   the    prayers   of   missionary    workers. 

•  (0)    It  has  served  as  the  inspiration  of  similar 

undertakings  which  are  accomplishing  great 
good. 

Tiif  future.  The  Committee  for  United  Study  enters  on 
its  second  decade  with  fully  matured  plans  for 
a  great  campaign  of  missionary  education.  The 
present  volume  closes  the  first  cycle  of  ten  years, 
with  a  record  of  more  than  a  half-million  sales 
—  and  a  constantly  increasing  constituency. 
Some  of  the  societies  have  feared  lest  this  in- 
defatigable committee  exhaust  the  topics  for 
possible   missionary  books.     "  We  have  taken 


PROBLEMS  AND  POLICIES  211 

all  the  countries,  what  more  is  there  to  study," 
they  say.  It  will  be  a  comfort  to  all  such  timid 
sisters  to  know  that  the  committee  is  already 
overcrowded  with  interesting  topics  pushing 
and  jostling  to  get  in  on  the  second  decade's 
work.  Writers  are  engaged  and  plans  virtually 
complete  for  several  3'ears  in  advance. 

In  these  six  lessons  we  have  tried  to  get  a  in  conciu- 
bird's-eye  view  of  the  woman's  movement  in  ^^"°" 
missions,  a  great  league  of  pity  and  sisterhood 
of  service.  As  we  have  studied  its  steady  growth 
in  resources  and  in  ministry,  has  a  vision  come 
to  us  of  the  river  which  Ezekiel  saw  flowing 
out  from  the  sanctuary:  first  a  trickle  of  the 
bright  drops,  then  a  streamlet,  then  waters  to 
the  ankles,  to  the  knees,  waters  to  swim  in 
that  could  not  be  passed  over,  a  river  gladdening 
wherever  it  flowed  ?  If  we  are  to  realize  the 
vision,  we  need  two  convictions  burned  into  our 
souls,  the  world's  need  of  Christ  and  the  life- 
giving  power  of  the  Divine  Redeemer.  If  our 
sense  of  the  first  has  grown  weak,  the  sorrowful 
story  of  woman  without  the  Gospel  may  awaken 
it.  If  we  doubt  the  power  of  Christ  to  cast  down 
and  to  destroy  evil,  to  build  up  and  recreate 
and  make  all  things  new,  the  story  of  the  mir- 
acles wrought  at  the  hands  of  our  missionaries 
may  restore  the  vision.  "  And  everything  shall 
live  whither  the  river  cometh." 

So  many  voices  are  calling  us,  so  many  goods  First  things 
demand  our  allegiance,  that  we  are  in  danger  of     ^®*' 


278    WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

forgetting  the  best.  To  seek  first  to  bring  Christ's 
Kingdom  on  the  earth,  to  respond  to  the  need 
that  is  sorest,  to  go  out  into  the  desert  for  tliat 
loved  and  bewildered  sheep  that  the  shepherd 
has  missed  from  the  fold,  to  share  all  of  privilege 
with  tlie  unprivileged  and  happiness  with  the 
unhappy,  to  lay  down  life,  if  need  be,  in  tlie  way 
of  the  Christ,  to  see  the  possibility  of  one  re- 
deemed earth,  undivided,  unvexed,  unperplexed, 
resting  in  the  light  of  the  glorious  Gospel  of  the 
blessed  God,  this  is  the  mission  of  the  women's 
missionary  movement. 
Our  This  year  of  study  marks  the  Jubilee  year  of 

Jubilee.  women's  work  for  foreign  missions.     It  is  fitting 

that  such  an  anniversary  should  not  pass  un- 
marked. Hospitals,  schools,  orphanages,  dor- 
mitories should  rise  to  mark  the  year.  A  great 
thank  offering  might  well  be  brought  u]).  A 
woman's  conference  might  be  held  in  New  York 
City,  in  which  should  be  gathered  up  the  loy- 
alty, the  enthusiasm,  the  purpose,  of  women  in 
this  greatest  of  all  ideal  undertakings.  Im- 
agine the  exhibits  of  work,  the  objects  from  the 
Orient,  the  gathering  of  women  from  all  lands, 
the  inspiring  speaking,  the  crowning  day  when 
the  women  of  America  from  the  churches  of  a 
United  Protestantism  should  bring  their  offer- 
ings to  pour  them  as  the  gift  of  the  Year  of 
Jubilee  at  the  feet  of  the  King.  "  AVe  can 
do  it,  if  we  will ;  "  "  We  can  do  it,  and  we 
will." 


PROBLEMS  AND  POLICIES  279 


QUESTIONS 

1.  "Whei'e  are  your   denominational  missions  on  the 

foreign  field  located  ? 

2.  For  what  numbers  is  your  denominational  Board 
responsible?  How  great  a  proportion  of  the  field  is  the 
responsibility  of  the  Woman's  Board  ? 

3.  What  proportion  does  your  missionary  plant  bear 
to  the  needs  of  the  field? 

4.  What  is  your  denominational  share  of  the  non- 
Christian  populations?  What  per  capita  responsibility 
does  this  make  ? 

5.  How  many  female  members  of  your  denomination  ? 
of  your  individual  church  ? 

6.  What  is  their  per  capita  gift,  nationally,  locally? 

7.  From  what  proportion  of  your  membership  does 
this  gift  come  ? 

8.  How  does  your  denominational  per  capita  gift 
compare  with  that  of  others  as  respects  the  general  offer- 
ing? as  respects  the  women's  offering  ? 

9.  What  denomination  has  the  highest  per  capita 
gift  in  the  country  ?  How  was  this  high  average  secured  ? 
How  does  this  denomination  compare  in  wealth  with 
other  denominations  ? 

10.  What  missionary  publications  in  your  denomina- 
tion ?  What  women's  publications?  How  many  taken  in 
your  church  ? 

11.  What  plans  have  you  found  most  efficacious  in 
enlarging  the  circulation  of  missionary  periodicals  ? 

12.  What  reasons  do  you  assign  as  the  cause  of  the 
small  circulation  (comparatively)  ? 

13.  In  what  way  is  the  Sunday  school  linked  with 
missions  in  your  denomination  ? 


280     WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 

14.  lias  your  society  adopted  a  definite  policy  of  mis- 
siouary  giving  and  education  ? 

15.  Is  this  policy  adopted  by  vote  of  the  society  each 
year? 

BIBLE   READING 

Working  and  Fighting,  Neheniiah  iii,  iv. 

Each  individual  had  a  definite  part.     Chap.  iii. 

The  enemy  scoffed  and  mocked.     Chap.  iv.  '2-'-\. 

Success  comes  through  cooperative  industry.  Chap. 
iv.  6. 

Opposition  is  overcome  by  prayer.     Chap.  iv.  9. 

Burdened  people,  one-haniied  people  had  to  do  the 
•work :  one  hand  building,  one  hand  holding  the  spear. 
Chap.  iv.  15-18. 

Long,  weary,  continuous  labor.     Chap.  iv.  21-23. 

A  wonderful  picture  of  missionary  labors  can  be 
developed  from  these  chapters.  Each  point  might  be 
assigned  to  a  member. 

REFERENCE   BOOKS 

The  Mission  Study  Class  Leader.  T.  II.  P.  Sailer. 
Presby.  Board  For.  Miss.,  N.  Y.,  1908. 

Unfinished  Task.  J.  L.  Barton.  Student  Volunteer 
publication. 

The  Missionary  Enterprise.  E.  jVI.  Bliss.  Revell, 
1908.     ^1.25. 

The  Foreign  Missionary.     A.  J.  Brown.     Revell,  1909. 

The  Church  and  Missionary  Education.  Young 
People's  Miss.  Movement,  1908. 

The  Unveiled  East.     F.  A.  McKenzie.     Dutton,  1907. 

The  New  Horoscope  of  Missions.  J.  S.  Dennis.  Revell, 
1908. 

A  Study  in  Christian  Missions.  W.  N.  Clarke.  Scrib- 
ner's,  1901. 

Under  Marching  Orders.  E.  D.  Hubbard.  Y.  P.  M.  M., 
1909. 


PROBLEMS  AND  POLICIES  281 

The  Making  of  a  Missionary.  C.  M.  Yonge.  Whit- 
taker,  1900. 

The  Challenge  to  Christian  Missions.  K.  E.  Welsh. 
AUenson,  1902. 

The  Missionary  and  his  Critics.  J.  L.  Barton.  Revell, 
1906. 

Holding  the  Ropes.     Belle  Brain. 

Fuel  for  Missionary  Fires.     Belle  Brain.     Revell. 

Missions  in  the  Sunday  School.     Mrs.  Hixon. 

Missionary  Methods  for  Sunday  School  Workers.  G.  H. 
TruU.     Sunday  School  Times  Co. 


INDEX 


Abeel,  Rev.  David,  21,  162. 
Abolition  movement,  9. 
Adjustment     of     relations     to 

general  boards,  263. 
A  dollar  a  patch,  14. 
Advertising  missions,  261. 
Agencies  on  the  field,  85. 
Agnew,  Eliza,  88. 
Age  of  consent  legislation,  60, 

61. 
Ahok,  Mrs.,  229-232. 
A  Lady  of  England,  176. 
American  Board,  13,  17,  20. 
An:erican    College    for    Girls, 

Constantinople,  209. 
Amritzar,  181,  183. 
Ameem,  Kasim,  54. 

Baltimore,    China    Missionary 

Society  of,  30. 
Baptists,  11,  15,  37,  88. 
Baptist  women  organize,  36. 
Batala,  183. 
Bible,   position  of   women  in, 

69. 
Bible,  principles  of,  71. 
Bible,  purity  of,  70. 
Bible  reading,  40,  76,  148,  200, 

238,  280. 
Bible   women,    work    of,    114, 

116. 
Bishop,  Isabella  Bird,  123. 
Blackwell,  Elizabeth,  117. 
Blind,  missions  for,  141. 
Boarding  Schools,  98-104. 
Bok,  Edward,  118. 
Boston     Female     Society    for 

Diffusion        of        Christian 

Knowledge,  13. 
Boston    Female     Society    for 


Missionary    Purposes,      11, 

12. 
Bowker,     Mrs.     Albert,     first 

president  of  Congregational 

board,  27. 
Bride  in  Turkey,  78. 
Brookline  ladies,  17. 
Buddhism,  47,  G8. 
Burmese     schoolgirl's     letter, 

101. 
Butler,  Dr.  Fanny  J.,  130. 
Butler,  Mrs.  William,  31. 

Campbell  Medical  School,  135. 

Canadian  Baptist  Women  or- 
ganize, 35. 

Central  Committee  for  United 
Study,  274-277. 

Chesnut,  Eleanor,  196-199. 

Child-birth,  sufferings  in,  123. 

ChUd  marriage,  57-61,  92, 
106,  211. 

China  Inland  Mission,  141. 

Chinese  medicine,  120,  216. 

Chinese  schools,  90-98. 

Chinese  women,  condition  of, 
46-48,  78,  91,  137,  215,  229. 

Christian  church,  37. 

Christian  Missions  and  Social 
Progress,  77,  216. 

Chronological  list  of  organiza- 
tions, 19. 

Citadel  of  heathenism,  86. 

Clark,  Rev.  N.  G.,  27. 

Coan,  Mrs.  Titus,  160. 

Code  of  Manu,  quotations, 
58-59,  68. 

Coffee-pot,  consecrated,  20. 

Confucius,  46,  68. 

Congregationalists,  11,  13,  88. 


283 


284 


INDEX 


Congregational  women  organ- 
ize, 26. 

Contributions  to  Japan,  18. 

Cromer,  Lord,  on  Moslem 
women,  80. 

Daniels,  Caroline  H.,  129. 
Deaf  Mutes,  school  for,  142. 
Dennis,  Rev.  James,  46,  77. 
Dispensary,  193,  195. 
Divorce  in  Japan,  49. 
Divorce  in  Moslem  lands,  63. 
Doremus,    Mrs.    Thomas    C, 

21,  161-166. 
Dufferin,    Lady,    Association, 

135,  144-145. 

Ecumenical  Conference,  227. 

Educating  our  constituencies, 
254. 

Education,  importance  of,  105, 
174.  213,  227. 

Education  of  girls  in  America, 
6-8. 

Education  of  girls,  non-Chris- 
tian, 90-106,  169-173,  209, 
216. 

Education  statistics,  104. 

Emery,  Mary  A.,  35. 

Eng,  Hil  King,  135,  217,  2.34. 

Episcopal,  Protestant,  17,34,37. 

Episcopal  women  organize,  34. 

Evangelists,  136,  233. 

Faye,  Dr.  Ida,  131. 

Fayette  Street  church  society, 

14. 
Female  Cent  Societies,  11. 
Fisher,  Isabelle,  Hospital,  131. 
Fiske,  Fidelia,  88. 
Foochow  Girls'  School,  88. 
Friend,  the  Woman's,  147. 

Gracey,  Mrs.  J.  M.,  88,  108. 
Green,  Dr.  Cornelia,  188. 
Griffis,   William  Elliot,  quota- 
tion from,  50. 
Grimke  sisters,  9. 


Hale.  Sarah  J.,  125. 

Hamlin,  Mrs.  Cyrus,  160. 

Harem,  107,  208. 

Healing  waters,  Ezekiel's  vis- 
ion, 40. 

Health  of  native  Christiana, 
143. 

Home,  the  citadel  of  heath- 
enism, 86,  133,  218. 

Hospitals,  130,  190-194,  198, 
212. 

House,  Harriet  M.,  School,  220. 

Howard,  Dr.  Meta,  130. 

Howe,  Julia  Ward,  10. 

Illiteracy,  213. 
India,  new  woman  in,  214. 
India,  reforms,  211,  212,  213. 
India,  wrongs  of  women  in,  56- 

66,  211,  214. 
Industrial  missions,  139. 
Industrial  status  of  woman,  6. 

Japan,  ladies  pray  for,  17. 

Japanese  women,  condition  of, 
49-50,  221,  222. 

Japanese  W.  C.  T.  U.,  222. 

Jesus,  democracy  of,  72,  206. 

Jesus,  his  treatment  of  women, 
72. 

Joshee  Anandabai,  135. 

Jubilee  of  Women's  Mission- 
ary Societies,  278. 

Judson,  Adonirara,  15. 

Kemendine,  99-100. 
Kinnaird,  Lord,  on  the  Zenana, 

107. 
Koran,  52. 

Korean  medicine,  120. 
Korean  women,  wrongs  of,  51, 

220. 
Kulinism,  63. 

Ladies'  Board  of  Missions  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church, 
33. 

"Ladies  last,"  75. 


INDEX 


285 


Language  study,  difficulties 
of,  90. 

Legacies,  13,  14. 

Leper  hospitals,  137. 

Literature,  circulation  of,  261. 

Lowell,  James  Russell,  quota- 
tion from,  66. 

Lutheran  Board,  37. 

Lyon,  Mary,  8. 

Maharajah  of  Mysore,  legisla- 
tion of,  60. 
Medical    missions,     117,     125, 

134-135,  136,  141,  143,  190- 

195,  198,  216. 
Methodists,  15,  37. 
Methodist     women     organize, 

30-33. 
Missionarj'  problems,  243-279. 
Missionary  ■wives  and  mothers, 

tribute  to,  157. 
Mission  Study  Class,  255. 
Mohammed,  52,  68. 
Money  and  the  Kingdom,  247. 
Monro\Ta,  17. 
Moslem    women,    wrongs    of, 

53-56,    91,    107,    207,    210, 

223. 
Moimt  Holyoke,  8. 
Mukti,  224. 
Mullens,  Mrs.  H.  C,  108. 

Native  women  physicians,  134. 
Need  of  medical  missions,  119. 
New  Testament  and  woman, 

72-73,  206. 
New    woman    of    the    Orient, 

205,  207-237,  223,  229,  235. 
Noble,   Lucy   Perrj%   Training 

School,  115. 
Norris,  Miss  H.  M.,  35. 
Norris,  Sarah  F.,  129. 

Objections  to  missions,  67. 
Obscenity,  religious,  65-66. 
Old-fashioned  heroine,  4. 
Opportunities    for    missionary 
work,  249. 


Organization       of       Women's 

Boards,  38. 
Oriental  medicine,  120. 
Orphanages,  138-141. 

Pak,  Esther,  135,  221. 

Panoplist  of  Boston,  20. 

Parker,  Mrs.,  31. 

Paxil,  treatment  of  women,  73. 

Periodicals  published  on  mis- 
sion fields,  147. 

Persia,  degradation  of  women 
in,  54. 

Philanthropic  agencies,  137. 

Physicians,  missionary,  117, 
118,  124. 

Pioneer  teachers,  87. 

Polygamy,  81. 

Postage,  cost  of,  in  1870,  29. 

Prayer  for  missions,  262. 

Presbji:erian  church  of  New- 
ark, 18. 

Presbji;erian  women  organize, 
33,  34. 

Problems  and  policies,  243. 

Prostitution  in  temples,  65. 

Protestant  resources,  247. 

Pubhcitj'  in  missions,  259. 

Purdah,  107. 

Quakers,  37. 

Questions,    39,    75,    149,    199, 

237,  279. 

Quotations,  77-81,  150,  236. 

Rajah  of  laetri,  194. 
Ramabai,  59,  61,  224-226. 
Rampore,  Xawab  of,  191. 
Reed,  Marj-,  138. 
Reference  books,    40-41,   152, 

238,  280. 
Responsibilities   on   the   field, 

245. 
Rights  of  women,  5. 
Robin,  Abbe,  5. 
Ropes,    Mrs.,  meeting   in   her 

home,  17. 
Rowe,  Phoebe,  233-235. 


286 


INDEX 


Salih,  Halideh,  209. 

Satthianadhan,   Mrs.,  214. 

Seclusion  of  women,  57,  208. 

Seward,  Sara,  Hospital,  129. 

Siam,  progress  in,  218. 

Singh,  Lilavati,  173,  226. 

Smith,  Arthur  H.,  48,  152. 

Society  for  Promoting  Female 
Education  in  the  East,  22, 
23. 

Sorabji,  Cornelia,  214. 

Sorosis,  11. 

Southampton  missionary  so- 
ciety, 14. 

Standard  of  excellence,  252. 

Statistics,  243. 

Status  of  woman  in  non-Chris- 
tian lands,  45-79,  132,  133, 
207. 

Stevens,  Miss  Grace,  of  Ma- 
dras, 113. 

Study  classes,  255. 

Summer  schools,  255. 

Sunday  schools,  256. 

Swain,  Clara,  33,  128,  187-196. 

TaJcott,  Eliza,  of  Japan,  146. 
Temple  prostitutes  of  India,  65. 
Thoburn,     Isabella,  32,     166- 

176,  228. 
Thoburn,  Bishop  James,    167, 

168. 
Thomas,  Sally,  legacy  of,   14. 
Thomas,  Mrs.,  of  Bareilly,  128, 

189,  191-193. 
Tokio,    Students'    Conference 

at,  228. 
Trained  nurses,  134. 
Training     school      for     Bible 

women,  114. 
Tubman,  Harriet,  205. 
Tucker,  Charlotte,  176-187. 
Tucker,  Sarah,  College,  142. 
Turkey,  oppression  of  women 

in,  79-81. 


Turkish  women  advancing, 
207-210. 

Union  Missionary  Society,  34. 

Union  Missionary  Society, 
advantages  of,  25. 

United  Baptist  Woman's  Mis- 
sionary Union  of  the  Mari- 
time Provinces,  36. 

Vaishnava  cult,  66. 
Village  schools,  97. 

Wealth,  increase  of,  248. 

Webb,  Mary,  12. 

Wesleyan  Seminary  on  For- 
syth Street,  15. 

Widowhood,  enforced,  61,  62. 

Widows,  remarriage  of,  211. 

Wilkins,  Ann,  16,  17. 

Williams,  Jane,  159. 

Williamson,  Margaret,  hospi- 
tal, 131. 

Womap  in  literature,  4. 

Woman's  century,  3. 

Woman's  club  in  Siam,  219. 

Woman's  Foreign  Mission- 
ary Society  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church,  34. 

Woman's  Medical  College, 
118,  235. 

Woman's  suffrage,  1,  9,  45. 

Women  of  the  revolution,  5, 
209. 

Woolston,  Beulah,  88. 

Wrongs  of  women,  45-79,  86, 
122. 

Zenana,     dull      and     prosaic, 

107. 
Zenana  parties,  112-113. 
Zenanas    opened   at   point   of 

needle,  108. 
Zenana  work,   107-113. 
Zenana  work  origin,  107. 


Naues  or  Oroanizations 

1 

4 

U 

liil 

<t:fc.o 

Us 

<t) 

a 
5 

ji 

a, 
1 

li 
II 

1 

I 

h 
111 

lis 

1=1 

c5S 

s 

1 

b 

'5 
^1 

11 
II 

j 

i 
1 
1 

3 

1 
a 

3 

i 
s 

a 

s 

i 

o 

9S 
is 

5  =  3 

sS 

1    Woman's  Baptiat  Foreign  Missionarj-  Society 

1873 

89,172 

$117,094 

171 

2,388 

0 

85 

54 

4 

7 

143 

666 

000 

40 

20 

7 

3 

2 

1 

60,000 

2    Woman's  iiaplist  Foreign  Missionarj'  Society 
of  the  Weat 

1S73 

4,244 

67,806 

255 

5,000* 

2 

59 

45 

3 

9 

2 

120 

446 

337 

2S 

1 

2 

1 

1.310.600 

50,000* 

3    Woman's  Missionarj-  Auxiliary  to  the  South- 
ern Baptist  Convention 

1SS8 

18,716 

96,641 

1,520 

9,150 

30 

138 

18 

3 

13 

4 

44 

27 

22 

1 

I 

2 

1 

5.716.800 

4    United  Baptist  Women's  Misaionanr  Union 
of  the  Maritime  Provinces  (Canada) 

1870 

1,827 

20,000 

48 

317 

2 

10 

5 

1 

8 

-' 

18 

21 

19 

2 

1 

1 

174,800 

7.063 

5    Woman's  Baptist  Foreign  Missionary  Society 
of  Eastern  Ontario  and  Quebec 

1870 

434 

2,344 

7 

S4 

3 

18 
3 
90 

2 

1 

14 

9 
225 

5 
17 
348 

3 

16 
300 

-' 

1 

1 

1 

931,200 

6  Free  Baptist  Woman's  Missionary  Society 

7  Woman's  Board  of  Missions  (Cong.) 

1873 
1868 

538 
6,033 

12,866 
174,626 

205 
3d  year 

2,300 

1 

6 
125 

1 
6 

2 

5 

31 

2 

15 

4 

3 

2 

6,661,101 

40.000 

8    Woman's  Board  of  the  Interior  (Cong.) 

18C8 

4,096 

106,061 

70 

2,400 

6 

80 

56 

2 

13 

1 

350 

98 

68 

21 

3 

3 

2 

2 

4 

3 

2,210.400 

63,030 

9    Canada.  Congregational  Woman's  Board  of 
Missions 

ISSC 

547 

4.015 

15 

00 

3 

i 

1 

2 

4 

4 

1 

1 

1,400 

10    Christian  Woman's  Board  of  Missions 

1S74 

770 

381,854 

90 

545 

70 

50 

4 

73 

4 

185 

11    Woman's  Auxiliar>-  (Protestant    Episcopal) 

1871 

20.000 

127,415 

248 

3,335 

05* 

45,000* 

12    Woman's    Auxiliary    (Church    of    England, 
Canada) 

ISSG 

12,382 

66,147 

C 

23 

1 

33 

4 

10 

4 

51 

2 

1 

1 

3 

1 

600 

13    Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society  of  the 

4 

_ 

4 

3 

1 

1 

1 

Kefomied  Episcopal  Church 

1S89 

6.327 

"* 

14    Woman's    Missionarj*    Society    Evangelical 
Association 

1884 

1,806 

25,810 

20 

0 

5 

5 

1 

2 

10.000 

8,720 

15    Woman's      Foreign      Missionary      Society 
(Friends) 

1887 

13,819 

51,929 

310 

715 

17 

10-' 

58 

0 

13 

6 

17 

42 

32 

10 

3 

2 

2 

1 

lO-'.-lUO 

5,755 

16    Woman's  Missionary  Society  of  the  Evan- 
gelical Lutheran  Church 

187!) 

2,070 

62,874 

150 

1,043 

14 

11 

3 

1 

15 

27 

23 

4 

3 

2 

1 

2 

000.000 

40,000 

17    Woman's  Missionary  Society  of  the  Metho- 
dist Church.  Canada 

1881 

2,916 

118,917 

£0 

1,655 

1 

94 

37 

3 

39 

16 

SO 

33 

8 

10 

11 

1 

1 

3 

2 

3.752,966 

40,099 

18    Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society  of  the 

604 

S9» 

1 

75,000 

9,359 

Free  Methodist  Church 

1894 

2,006 

39,439 

19    Woman's  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Church,  South 

1878 

4,104 

269,178 

150 

4,201 

' 

92 

83 

3 

4 

2 

123 

107 

77 

20 

4 

2 

2 

2 

15,413,000 

20    Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church 

1809 

4,546 

685,961 

7,306 

2 

312 

ISO 

30 

80 

12 

3,675 

834 

717 

88 

S 

24 

21 

20 

11 

9 

5,848,000 

199,846 

21    Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society  of  the 

300 

5 

30 

5 

3 

1 

720,000 

7,600» 

Methodist  Protestant  Church 

1879 

316 

15,000 

1 

7 

- 

^ 

22    Woman's  Home  and  Foreign  Missionary  So- 

ciety of  the  Wesleyan  Methodist  Church 

1903 

4.000 

20 

4 

1 

1 

- 

23    Woman's  Parent  Mite  Missionary  Society  of 

3 

6 

4 

^ 

q 

223.611 

C4.000 

the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 

1874 

150 

12,101 

1,165 

2 

23 

12 

- 

- 

" 

" 

24    Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  Canada 

1870 

1,000 

70,955 

IS 

812 

2 

70 

39 

5 

30 

6 

40 

28 

14 

14 

5 

4 

2 

1 

3.312,000* 

2S.2S9 

26    Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society  of  the 
\           Presbyterian  Church.  Canada,  East 

1870 

;3,018 

1 

=33 

2 

43 

1 

1,920,000 

S.786* 

26    Woman's    Foreign    Missionary    Societies    of 
the  Presbyterian  Church.  U.S.A. 

1870 

12,991 

400,730 

103 

10,869 

24 

508 

39 

680 

350 

18 

18 

2 

2 

3.500,000 

90,000* 

37    Woman's  Board  of  Foreign  Mi^siooa  of  the 

1875 

2,891 

67.039 

13 

450 

75 

65 

7 

3 

187 

145 

131 

14 

1 

2 

1,687.000 

Reformed  Church  in  America 

1 

'■ 

28    Woman's  General  Missionary  Society  of  the 

4,459,400 

36,033 

United  Presbyterian  Church  of  N.  America 

1883 

7,540 

C0.5S7 

335 

1.317 

71 

7 

5 

7 

3 

3 

~ 

29    Woman's  Home  and  Foreign  Missionary  So- 

2 

3,478.584 

ciety  of  the  United  Evangelical  Church 

18!yl 

1,219 

15,651 

45 

320 

20 

2 

1 

8 

1 

15 

5 

4 

1 

30    Woman's  Home  and  Foreign  Missionary  So- 

2 

283.100 

4.000 

ciety  of  the  Advent  Cliristian  Church 

1897 

300 

9.105 

155 

3 

30 

30 

5 

14 

12 

14 

3 

1 

31    Woman's     Missionary     Conference    of     the 

24.000 

2,616 

United  Synod 

1881 

9 

10.013 

5 

142 

2 

I 

1 

32   Woman's      Foreign      Missionary      Society 
Churches  of  God 

400 

189U 

50 

2,U23 

27 

1 

3 

3 

19 

3 

3 

1 

I 

33   Woman's    Missionary    Association    of    the 

19 

50.000 

United  Brethren  Church 

1875 

458 

40,121 

18 

718 

1 

32 

7 

3 

11 

1 

60 

25 

20 

S 

2 

1 

1 

34    Woman's  Board  of  Missions  New  Brunswick 

and  Nova  Scotia 

1878 

252 

002 

0 

18 

0 

3 

2 

1 

35    Woman's  Union  Missionary  Society  of  Amer- 

346.000 

ica  for  Heathen  Louds 

ISCO 

2,101 

86,902 

3 

49 

39 

8 

99 

3 

2 

4 

4 

2 

1 

30    United  Woman's  Convention  Auxiliary  to 

300.000 

3,000 

the  National  Baptist  Convention 

JJ±_ 

1,000 

13.000 

Grand  Totals 

»13!),309 

S.i,328,840 

3,832 

57,443 

fr5~ 

2,368 

930 

147 

441 

91 

6.154 

3,263 

2,410 

329       1        11 

101 

82 

80 

35 

45 

63,075,615 

Statistical  Table 


Owing  to  great  diversities  in  organiz; 
arics  cannot  be  given,  because  the  funds 

The  total  of  column  two  represents 
as^cgate  in  the  next  column.     In  1861  there 


1  it  has  been  very  difficult  to  compile  this  table.     In  some  cases  the  number  of  mission- 
tributed  by  the  women  are  not  appropriated  separately. 

the  gift  of  one  year,  but  the  aggregate  of  first-year  gifts  as  contrasted  with  the  present 
society,  the  Woman's  Union  Missionary  Society.     If  the  offering  of  1861 


of  1909  be  contrasted,  a  much  sharper  contrast  is  shown. 
Societies  that  are  completely  auxiliar>-  to  the  parent  Board  necessarily  appear  at  a  disadvantage  in  this  table,  since  they 
able  to  give  separate  figures.     Asterisks  arc  placed  wherever  an  amount  is  an  estimate. 
"The  following  forms  of  work  are  not  included  in  the  tables:  — 
"        '■    J  Baptist  (4)^a8  102  evangelistic  schools  with  average  attendance  of  1500. 


The  Canadian  Methodists  (17)  maintain  street  Sunday-schools.  l      l  » r  „j  . 

The  Free  Methodist  (18)  is  a  strictly  auxiliarj-  society  without  separate  credit;  and  hence  has  been  obiigea  i 
its  proportionate  share  of  the  work,  wherever  asterisks  are  found.  .       .  .-,■       *^ 

The  Methodist  Board,  North  (20).  supports  :J2  Bible  training  schools  and  158  marned  women  m  addition  lo 
has  homes  for  lepers,  the  blind,  the  deaf,  for  homeless  women.     There  are  traimng  schools  for  <i> 


■efully  estimate 


The  Parent  Mite  Society  (23)  of  the  African  Methodist  Church  has  a  remarkable  number  of  contributors,  and  does  a  beautiful 

'  and  missionary  training  sehooj. 


Woman's  Board  of  the  Interior  (8)  has  three  Bible  training  schools,  250  i 


evangelists. 

Canadian  Congregational   (9)  has  built  three  schools  ; 
Ceylon;   supports  orphans  in  many  lands. 

The  Woman's  Boord, Congregational  (7), does  a  large  am< 


■  teachers,    and  13  I 


I  and        has  been  difficult  to  determine 


m.-kintain  a  deaconess    ana  misflioniiry  vriiiuiuB  bi-m«w'.  ,    ,.    .    v-  *     •  t* 

seven  in  number  have  presented  their  combined  statistics  through  their  h^tonan-     » 
*  beeauS;  Sf  the  station  plan  by  which  they  share  with  the  parent  Board  in  the  expensea 


BohooL . 

The  Church  of  England  AuxiliL.., ,   . 

Neat,"  in  China,  and  a  training  home  for  Bible 

The  Woman's  Auxiliary,  the  Episcopal  Church  (11) 


West  Africa:   aupplies  Bible  instruction  in  four  government  schools  in 
int  of  literary  work  and  translation,  and  has  industrial  education  in  many 


is  administered  by  the  general  Board.  The  figures 
which  the  contributions  of  the  Woman's  Auxiliary  I: 
ported  by  the  United  Offering  made  once  in  three  ye 


Canada  (12).  reports  the  rescue  of  temple  children  in  : 
"  '  *  in  Japan.     It  also  supplies  outfits  for 

innot  gire  separate  items  in  regard  to  teachers,  e 
pn  with  asterisk  •  are  careful  estimates  by  thi 
to  the  whole  is  one-third.     The  eixty-five  miss 


the  money  contributed 
n.'.  The  proportion 
listed  are  those  sup- 


The  Missionary  Society  of  the  United  Evangelical  (29)  is  both  home  and  for^'eD-_but  jjnly 
married  women  are  supported,  making  the  total  20  missionaries  as  reported, 
built  at  Ruling.  China.  .  , 

The  Woman's  Society  of  the  Advent  Christian  (30)  has  20  out  of  its  30  teachers  r 
the  table  are  supported,  and  two  industrial  schools.  ,      , 

The  Women  of  the  United  Brethren  (34)  support  11  married  missionary  women  who  do  miasionarj 


ight! 


The  Union  Missionary  Society  (36).  since  it  is  interdenominational,  depends  largely  uijon  personal  gi/ti 
lists  are  native  helpers  among  the  2000  Zenanas  reached  by  this  society.     A  rescue  work  is  maintained  m 
The  Woman's  Free  Baptist  (6)  supports  a  widows'  home  in  India. 


faools  in  addition  to  those  in 
irk  in  addition  to  their  homo 
of  its  99  evange- 


I 


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THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  MISSIONS 

(Via  Christi)  By  LOUISE  M.  HODGKIXS 

"  Clean,  accurate,  and  comprehensive.  .  .  .  This  series  .  .  . 
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INDIA 

(Lux  Christi)  By  CAROLINE  A.  MASON 

"  Invaluable  and  almost  indispensable  as  a  guide-book  for  the 
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CHINA 

(Rex  Christus)  By  ARTHUR  H.  SMITH 

"A  well-informed  and  valuable  sketch  on  a  large  subject."  — 
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(Dux  Christus)  By  WILLIAM  ELLIOTT  GRIFFIS 

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(Christus  Liberator)  By  ELLEN  C.  PARSONS 

"  It  is  difficult  to  imagine  how  a  better  book  for  its  intended 
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THE  ISLAND  WORLD  OF  THE  PACIFIC 

(Christus  Redemptor)  By  HELEN  B.  MONTGOMERY 

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MISSIONS  AND  SOCIAL  PROGRESS 

(Gloria  Christus)  By  ANNA  R.  B.  LINDSAY 

A  summing  up  of  progress  made  in  non-Christian  lands. 


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By  SAMUEL  M.  ZWEMER,  F.R.G.S.,  and 
ARTHUR  JUDSON  BROWN,  D.D. 

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THE  GOSPEL  IN  LATIN  LANDS 

Outline  Studies  of  Protestant  Work  in  the  Latin  Countries  of 
Europe  and  America. 
By  FRANCIS  E.  CLARK,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  and 
HARRIET  A.  CLARK 

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WESTERN  WOMEN  IN  EASTERN  LANDS 
By  HELEN  BARRETT  MONTGOMERY 

Author  of  "  The  Island  World  of  the  Pacific." 


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Of  Great  Value  to  Any  Student  of  Missions 


AN  INTRODUCTION  TO  THE 

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The  book  is  primarily  intended  as  an  introduction  to  the  study 
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THE  RELIGION  OF  THE  CHINESE 

By  J.  J.  M.  De  GROOT,  Ph.D. 

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Any  proper  understanding  of  the  religions  of  Eastern  Asia  in 
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RECENT  BOOKS   ON  RELIGION,   ETC. 


By  HENRY  CHURCHILL  KING,  President  of  Oberlin  College 

The   Ethics  of  Jesus 

Showing  how  large  a  proportion  of  the  teaching  of  Jesus  as  we 
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Cloth,  xiv  +  29j  pages,  $i.jo  net;  postpaid,  $1.63 
By  SAMUEL  G.  SMITH,  University  of  Minnesota 

ReHgion  in   the   Making 

A  study  in  Biblical  Sociology  which  takes  the  reader  back  to 
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The  Religions  of  Eastern  Asia 

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the  national  religions  of  the  East  .  .  .  the  Taoism  of  China,  the 
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Cloth,  X  +  268  pages,  $1.50  net ;  postpaid,  $1.61 

By  ANDREW  M.  F.AIRBMRN,  Late  Principal  of  Mansfield  College 

Studies  in   Religion   and  Theology 

This  title  covers  a  series  of  exceptionally  important  papers  on 
the  Christian  Church  .  .  .  the  essential  idea  in  the  mind  of  its 
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